For the next couple of days, no matter where you are in Texas, you will most likely experience some type of severe weather.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), a cold front coming from the northeast will cause all of North and Central Texas to experience hazardous cold weather early next week with temperatures dropping to the 10s in some areas between Sunday night and Monday morning.
In North Texas, a wind advisory is in effect until 6:00 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2024, with gusts of winds expected to reach up to 45 and 50 mph. If you haven’t already, this is your cue to secure any outdoor furniture that’s not nailed to the floor lest it flies away.
Near the Oklahoma border, conditions deteriorated on Jan. 8, 2024, for residents in Amarillo and Lubbock after the NWS issued a blizzard warning that lasted until 8:00 p.m. The winds mixed with the snow resulted in “white out” conditions that caused traffic delays and road closures in the far southwestern Texas Panhandle.
Meanwhile, in Houston, 2024 started with tornado warnings. On Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, the first tornado of the year touched the ground for 200 yards according to KHOU11. Just three days later, on Monday, Jan 8, 2024, residents were on the lookout for tornadoes again with three tornado warnings issued for San Jacinto and Polk Counties and at least one tornado seen near West Livingston and Indian Springs, as reported by Chron. Currently, the area is under a wind advisory that is in effect until 6:00 p.m., Jan. 9, 2024.
But wind and cold are not all that’s going through Texas right now. In the San Antonio area, the windy conditions combined with low humidity increased the chances of fire spreading rapidly. The NWS started issuing fire danger status on Jan. 6, 2024, and a red flag warning for critical fire weather conditions was issued on Jan. 8, 2024.
While all at once these weather events seem like A LOT, it’s nothing Texans are not accustomed to.
As previously reported by Local Profile, Texas is one of the U.S. states most affected by natural disasters, according to a 2023 study by WalletHub. The Lone Star State has had it all: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. These events take a heavy toll on the physical and mental health of residents as well as on the area’s economy.
A similar study from 2022 compared how natural disasters affect each state by comparing them based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Environmental Information. The three states leading the ranking are Mississippi, followed by Louisiana and Texas. If we break the numbers according to the two key metrics, Texas leads the country in the number of disasters, costing over $1 billion.
These three states were affected by some of the most expensive natural disasters in American history. In 2017, next to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, Texas was the most impacted state by Hurricane Harvey, with the Houston area the most affected due to the heavy rainfall that caused massive flooding.
But it’s not just hurricanes weighing over the state. According to a report by the city of Austin, the 2021 freeze had at least $195 billion in economic damage, the wildfires that broke in early 2022 had an estimated $23.1 billion in damages for the agricultural sector and between 2010 to August 2022, drought cost Texas an estimated 10 to 20 billion dollars.
If the beginning of 2024 is any indication of what’s to come this year, we might be wise to prepare for anything.