Why is it snowing so far south?!?

We had planned to stay another day in Hico, Texas, but an unusually wet cold front was heading our way. So we decided to make an early exit and travel a couple hours further south. We had been watching the weather forecast for a week, hoping that they had over-exaggerated it. But when we left,  the forecast called for 6-8 inches of snow in Hico that evening! That unusual forecast must have been on the national news, as we got texts from friends and family asking if we knew about the impending snowfall heading our way. Sure enough, as we headed south on Highway 281, we saw that the Texas Department of Transportation had already sprayed salting solution on the highway. The big bank of the cold-front clouds loomed on the horizon in front of us.

So we made our entrance at Blanco State Park a day early, and right before that cold front settled over us. The entrance to the camping area in this park is over a one-lane bridge that goes over the Blanco River.

When we first looked on-line for a camp site at Blanco State Park, they had no vacancies this week. But when we called the park office, we found that the reservation system only includes 50% of the sites because of Covid restrictions. In fact, their sites are far apart and they can safely rent out all of their sites if you just call and ask. So we got this great 50-amp-full-hook-up site for as long as we want because it is not in the reservation system.

This is a busy park in the summer, with great water activities. But for now, the Blanco River is a very serene place to hang out.

It was too chilly to consider kayaking, but it doesn't look like that's an easy possibility here on the Blanco River. We kept finding these dams that would interrupt a good float down the river.

Since we are at the edge of town, the only wildlife we saw were the curious domesticated white ducks that assumed the only reason we would pause at the river edge would be to feed them.

Shortly after we got set up in our campground, the cold intensified. We started getting rain during the night, then it changed to sleet, and then it became graupel. We use this new term only because the weatherman was explaining it on the local news. Graupel is soft hail or snow pellets. 

Think snow that looks like dip-n-dots ice cream as it falls from the sky.

While Hico was supposed to get 6-8 inches, our forecast here in Blanco was for one inch. They hit their predictions pretty well. We're still so surprised to see a covering of snow as we ask ourselves, "Why is it snowing so far south?"

We spent the entire day in the motor home while the snow continued to fall. Since it was a Sunday, we had a true "day of rest." We drank hot chocolate and listened to our favorite on-line church service while we sat on our new couch. 

We are now close to San Antonio, and it is very unusual for the locals this far south to see snow. While we were snuggled up inside avoiding the wet cold stuff, they were all outside playing in the snow. We saw a record number of tiny snowmen the next day, and they obviously lasted longer than the ground cover of snow.

We're still surprised to see these little snowmen on our trip south this year. After wearing our heaviest coats and gloves this week, our teeth are chattering as we ask, "Why is it snowing so far south?!?"