Last night a frontal boundary combined with extremely hot temperatures and high humidity levels to spark a severe thunderstorm that brought widespread hail, wind, and extreme precipitation to much of the Austin metro area. Like many Central Texans, I was initially excited to see that we had some rain coming our way, after all it has been a long, hot, dry summer and we could use the moisture. But when the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the storm approaching my neighborhood, I was worried about my house and my car. It was a nerve-wracking and exciting thirty minutes as the storm passed over my house, with hail slamming against the windows, the roof, and the garage door. The hail sounded much larger than we have ever experienced and this morning when we got up we had evidence all around us that this was a significant event. Trees with their leaves all torn off, fences down and multiple cars with their windshields broken out. We got lucky with a single hail ding on my car and one broken windowpane. I credit the Live Oak in our front yard for protecting my house and will remember this when it is time to pick up its leaves this spring.
Autumn is not an unusual time for strong storms in Central Texas; it is the part of the year when we start to see frontal boundaries passing through the area, which can spark severe weather. Climatologically, late September and October is one of our rainy periods, with the average amount of rain falling in autumn second only to our rainiest month, June. But, the kind of heat and humidity we had yesterday served to make the storm particularly extreme, which led to widespread marble to quarter size hail and even some golf ball and tennis ball sized hail. The heat and humidity we have seen this week follows the pattern of higher than average temperatures we have had in Central Texas since June. And when the atmosphere is warmer and contains more water vapor, or humidity, that’s a recipe for strong storms and heavy precipitation.
It was not a surprise when I got a text this morning letting me know that my children’s public school had been canceled for the day due to storm damage. After seeing the radar last night I was worried for the school building that feels like a second home for my children. Like many families in Texas, our family life orbits around our public school. Our kids have been nurtured and challenged there for nearly a decade. Our teachers have, without fail, been creative, hard working, passionate, and talented. And even though I have seen many changes that have made things harder in the classrooms in the last few years, they continue to make the school a welcoming, stimulating place for our students.
The school asked for volunteers to help clean up the building, so I joined a group of parents and teachers to move books and materials out of classrooms so the workers could come in and clean up the water that had come in. Being in those classrooms, seeing all the art on the walls, carrying boxes and wagon loads of books out into the hallway, seeing all the ways teachers make our kids’ classrooms bright and inviting and exciting for the students made me even more appreciative of the work that goes into public education. There were cheerful reading corners, neatly organized bins of math manipulatives, and “wonder walls” where students are invited to ask big questions and make connections about the material they are learning. And, I was working alongside teachers and administrators, who, despite the water and the mud, were still talking about ways to get their students back on track once school was back in session. The morning was a good example of the kind of community collaboration that our public schools foster.
Public education and climate change are two issues that affect the lives of every Texan. If you have benefited from Texas public schools like I have, support them by joining the Public School Defenders. And while you’re there, check out the ways you can advocate for the EPA to adopt better, stronger rules about emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas that causes global warming alongside carbon dioxide.