Miguel Angel Diaz ,10, tries to catch a snow flake or two with his tongue as snow falls downtown Houston on Friday morning.
Manjit Gerba, 19, proudly displays her first snowman made from the dusting on hoods of cars and from tarps covering plants.
Deepak Gautam, 10, shows off his first snowball.
Deepak Gautam gathers snow from a car hood.
Jill Akerland laughs as snow falls outside the shop where she works in the Heights.
Ray Reed and Claire Barcus enjoy the snow in the Rice Village shopping center.
Paige Turner, 15, a native Houstonian steps outside Barnaby's, a Montrose area restuarant,to marvel andcatch snow on her tongue, a classic snow fall activity.
Dec. 24, 2004, 11:56PM
White(ish) Christmas
Not many flakes actually stick to the ground, but a rare display
By MELANIE MARKLEY
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Off-and-on snow flurries blanketed the Houston area Friday, making it the closest the city has ever come to a white Christmas.
The snow and cold helped stoke the Christmas spirit as children and adults alike rushed outdoors to witness the rare display of a winter wonderland in southern Texas.
Not many flakes actually stuck to the ground, but there was an accumulations on car tops, roofs and other surfaces. The Tom Horan family scraped enough together to craft an 8-inch snowman in their front yard behind the River Oaks Shopping Center.
The tiny snowman dubbed Frosty had twigs for arms, a piece of carrot for a nose, bits of charcoal for eyes and a Santa Claus stocking cap.
"My kids and grandbabies have just made the world's smallest snowman," boasted Horan, who reveled in the falling snow with his wife, two sons, daughter and two grandchildren, ages 5 and nearly 1.
His wife, Jeani, who had grown up in Michigan, could hardly believe it when her husband walked into the house and told her it was snowing.
SNOW IN HOUSTON
Measured snowfalls here since 1950:
• Dec. 22, 1989: 1.7 inches
• Feb. 2, 1980: 1.4 inches
• Feb. 17, 1973: 2.3 inches
• Feb. 9, 1973: 1.2 inches
• Jan. 11, 1973: 2.1 inches
• March 22, 1968: 1 inch
• Feb. 12, 1960: 4.4 inches
• Feb. 12, 1958: 1.7 inches
I had tears," she said. "I said, 'Oh, I got my Christmas wish,' and I just started crying. I felt like I was 5 years old again, just like my grandson."
Grandson Thomas IV was equally as impressed with the white stuff, the first he had experienced since he was a baby.
"I thought the Polar Express was coming," he said.
Reports of snow flurries were widespread, including in different parts of Houston, Humble, Katy, Pearland, Galveston, Lake Jackson and Sugar Land.
The intermittent flurries were expected to last late into the night with skies clearing by sunrise this morning. Today's high will be in the mid-40s while the low tonight will drop again below freezing, to the upper 20s.
Temperatures, however, will rise to the mid-50s on Sunday and the low-60s by Monday, said Matt Moreland, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in League City.
The weather service said a trace of snow was reported Friday at Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston's official measuring station. Missouri City and Jamaica Beach both reported half an inch Friday night.
Another band of snow was heading for the area late Friday into early today, and forecasters said it had the potential to drop more snow on the region.
History-making event
The flurries represented the first trace of snow reported in Houston since Dec. 17, 1996, Moreland said, and the first in recorded history on Christmas Eve. The last measurable snowfall here was in December 1989.
Snow flurries and sleet also were reported in the Rio Grande Valley, but meteorologists said they didn't expect it to stick around long enough to produce the first measurable snowfall in more than a century or the first white Christmas in the region's history.
Light snow was reported before dawn in Harlingen and Brownsville, and flurries were also reported around Corpus Christi, according to the weather service.
"It's unusual for us to forecast snow," said Corpus Christi meteorologist Tawnya Evans. "We've been getting quite a few phone calls with the snow flurries."
The wintry conditions are the remnants of an arctic front that swept through the top half of the state earlier this week, dumping several inches of snow on the Panhandle and dusting Dallas-Fort Worth. Ice and snow were blamed for dozens of traffic accidents up there, killing two people.
In the Houston area, some roads became slick Friday evening with the temperature hovering near the freezing mark. The Texas Department of Transportation said it had sand trucks out on U.S. 290 and Interstate 10. Ramps at 290 and Beltway 8 were closed because of slippery conditions.
As the night went on, the wintry weather made driving conditions more treacherous.
"Snow, ice and bad weather means accidents," said Officer Darren Curry of the Houston Police Department's traffic division.
Between 7 and 10 p.m. Friday, there were 69 collisions and traffic incidents, according to HPD.
U.S. 59 "never completely shut down, but we experienced a lot of accidents out there as well," Bunyard said.
Crews from TxDOT responded with sand to keep the freeway passable.
"We are experiencing icy conditions on the overpasses" throughout the Houston area, Bunyard said.
The Christmas Eve snow was a special treat for children who had never seen the white stuff falling in their back yard.
Frolicking, screaming
Samantha Yenne, 10, of Lake Jackson, was in her shorts when the first few snowflakes were seen swirling to the ground. She quickly changed clothes and ran to her friend's house so the two of them could watch the winter spectacle.
"It was like I wasn't in Texas anymore," said Samantha, who had seen snow once before in Seattle. "It was gorgeous."
In Galveston, Nikkie Guidry, 25, ran outside the San Luis Hotel where she was working so she could frolic in the falling snow.
"I just stood out there and started screaming," said Guidry, who is from the Caribbean Islands. "I couldn't believe it. I started thinking, 'Oh my God, it's snowing in Galveston. How weird is that?' "
Not everyone, though, was so blessed.
Andrew Zarrillo, 12, kept looking out the window of his home in Spring, hoping to see some flakes. He didn't, which he said was disappointing.
But Kerry Dicapua said she saw some children trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues when she went to pick up her husband near Humble.
Dicapua, who is from Pennsylvania, said it reminded her of home.
"I've never seen it snow this hard before down here," she said. "It puts you in a good Christmas spirit."
Chronicle reporters Anne Marie Kilday and Lucas Wall, and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Now I live in Salt Lake City and while I'm still impressed by snow it's not nearly as much fun as it is an inconvenience. I've gotten quite a few proud emails from friends and family back there with photos of their snow. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make it back there this year. 
