On Monday, Jan. 15, Austin temperatures dropped to a low of 15 F, with a high of 27 F in the afternoon. Snow fell lightly in some areas of Austin, such as the northwest region, causing the roads there to be covered in a thin layer of frost. This made it dangerous to drive, affecting most people’s daily schedules.

“I couldn’t go into work to pick up my check since we were closed,” Payton Stratford ‘26 said.

The following day, school was delayed for two hours until the ice melted off the road to ensure that students wouldn’t endanger themselves on the way to campus. However, multiple students said that they would have preferred the whole day off. 

“[RRISD] should’ve just canceled school,” Divyani Behera ‘26 said. “It felt weird waking up and coming to school at 11:00 instead of just having the day off.”

As a result of the weather, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas sent out an appeal to conserve energy. People also took other measures to reduce ice damages, such as turning their faucets on to a drip to prevent their pipes from freezing. 

In addition to the cold weather, a wind chill warning was issued on Tuesday, Jan. 16 — the third ever wind chill warning issued in Austin. The first warning was during the winter storm of February 2021. Although the freeze this year had a lower mortality rate than the one in 2021, it prevented Austin residents from being able to do day-to-day tasks, causing inconveniences. Many Austin residents had fears of multiple power outages and the weather causing a shutdown of businesses and services in Austin, but there were few outages and driving was only restricted for one day.

Throughout the next two weeks, the temperatures will begin to rise, with lows averaging 50 F and highs averaging 60 F. While the temperatures are still low, people are wearing layers and remaining indoors to stay warm.