Austin was given a taste of the coming winter at the end of October this year, a cold front with temperatures coming down from the upper 70s and into the 30s and 40s.
For some, this drastic winter weather brings back memories of Feb. 2021, Austin’s worst ice storm on record. This year, the Farmer’s Almanac suggests a potentially severe Texas winter through Jan. and Feb. 2024.
“Three years ago, the freeze, my house didn’t have electricity or water for a week. It was a very entertaining experience, my brother and I played in the snow. When it first started, we just got buckets of water and used it to flush the toilets. We melted snow in the bathrooms for water. We drank bottled water. We also used the garage as a fridge.” said Aarya Patel (8).
When the weather is sufficiently cold, Canyon Vista has to change its agenda.
“We have a threshold we go by, temperatures below 40 degrees, we don’t let P.E. classes go out. So we’ll do something, we’ll do an alternative workout inside, but Athletics can go out. If it’s below freezing, we don’t let anyone go out, Athletics or P.E.” said Coach Eric Azios, P.E. and Athletics teacher.
We are going into a weather event through at least Dec. – Feb. El Niño, and a particularly strong one too. El Niño is a phenomenon caused by trade winds in the Atlantic Ocean. What it means for Austin is that this winter will be warmer and wetter, compared to previous years of a La Niña, which caused cooler and drier winters in Texas and Austin.
“We’ll either do weights in the weight room, or we’ll do activities in the gym, maybe agilities, running, we do a running workout where we go the length of the gym under a certain amount of time, something like that.” continued Mr. Azios.
Winter at Canyon Vista can bring low temperatures and sometimes once-in-a-lifetime experiences, like last year’s winter storm. But students, teachers, and citizens of Austin continue to find new ways to adapt to the cold weather.
“The pipes burst, and we had bottled water from the last freeze, so that’s what we survived off of. We ate the food from the fridge first, then the pantry. My stepmom moved the food from the fridge to outside to keep it cool.” said Jade Yung Hemme (8).
