Rain. freezing Rain. Sleet. Snow.

(Frozen flag)

The rain started falling very early this morning. Byron had to catch a flight at 6:50am, so we were up plenty early. Surprisingly, his flight wasn't even delayed. It would, however, be the last flight out of Lubbock's Preston Smith International Airport. All flights have been cancelled for the day.

By the time I went to work at 7:45am, it as still raining very hard. In true Lubbock fashion, the streets were flooded with standing water.

The temperature at 8am was just dipping to 32 as the cold blast moved further south down the Texas Panhandle. The rain was already freezing on tumbleweeds and trees as I drove up I-27 to work.

By10am, conditions were deteriorating quickly, so we called it a day and closed the office. We actually waited too long to close up, because the roads were awful. The rain had turned to a hard pelting sleet. A low spot underneath an overpass on the Interstate was full of water, which is typically after a big rain. All the exits onto the Interstate had been closed because of the water, however, I was still able to go through. It startled me as I drove across the icy, slushy water that came up over my tires.

By the time I got into town, the sleet changed over to snow. Big snow. Within 15 minutes, the streets were covered with ice and snow.

The above picture is of 40th St. -the street we live on. The photo below is at the intersection of 50th and Indiana. Although likely not the best decision, I decided to stop at Market Street to get groceries since I didn't prepare before the store. Plus, it's only a couple blocks from our house. If worse came to worse, I could walk home.



The snow kind of makes our house look like a dugout.

I-40 west from Amarillo into New Mexico has been shut down. Texas Tech finally cancelled classes at noon. FedEx even halted all ground shipments today.

There is a layer of ice on every tree branch, and a layer of snow. It looked all too much like what the folks back home in NWA saw last year during one of the worst ice storms to ever hit the region.

You can hear the branches cracking in the slightest of breezes. Luckily, the 40mph winds that were present this morning have blown on east. Also, there aren't near as many trees out here, so hopefully, that won't be a big factor.

So, I will sit in my living room today and enjoy the rare snow (and ice) day in Lubbock. However, this makes the third snow event we've had this winter.