San Benito wakes up under layer of ice Friday

By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com

freeze pic

Carl Otsuki of San Benito is shown on the corner of Bonham and Hicks Street Friday morning, snapping photographs of frozen blades of grass at a nearby lot. (Staff photo by Michael Rodriguez)

It’s been over 100 years in the making.

Friday’s 29 degree low tied a 1883 and a 1912 record for the Harlingen, San Benito and Brownsville area, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Jason Straub.

What’s more, the multi-day freeze experienced in the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday and Friday was the first of its kind since 1989, said Meteorologist Brian Miller, adding that Thursday’s low of 28 degrees was the coldest temperature on record in the area since 1951, when it was 25 degrees.

Attributed to an arctic front that moved its way from Canada to the central United States and down to Texas, Miller said: “It just happened to be the right conditions to tap into that air up north.”

“We’re looking at the mid 20s right now down here for Cameron County, but the precipitation will be over so it’ll just be cold, and then tomorrow we’re forecasting lower 60s at the moment. By tomorrow, with the increased sunshine and modification of the air mass and lack of the precipitation, things are going to start to warm up,” Miller said Friday.

Numerous freeze-related accidents were reported as a result of the inclement weather, forcing the San Benito, Rio Hondo, Los Fresnos, and Harlingen school districts as well as IDEA Public Schools to cancel classes until Monday, Feb. 7, when a regularly-scheduled school day is expected to resume for the aforementioned districts. Citing hazardous road conditions and power outages, higher education establishments that followed suit in response to the cold were The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC), The University of Texas Pan-American (UTPA) in Edinburg, and Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Harlingen.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Feb. 6 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2011/02/04/san-benito-wakes-up-under-layer-of-ice-friday/

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