Texans from the panhandle to Austin spent Sunday with white rooftops following a cold front full of snow as Victoria stuck to steady rain and cold temperatures.
But for some businesses, the change in weather doesn’t always help keep up their foot traffic.
From Sunday morning through 4 p.m., Victoria County received .52 of an inch of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi. With a dry, yet cold, week expected ahead, senior forecaster Liz Sommerville said the Crossroads probably won’t receive any snow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see just a flurry,” Sommerville said. “But it doesn’t look like it’s going to snow.”
Other than some ponding of water on roadways and ditches, Sommerville said there had not been any flooding in the Crossroads.
While Victoria typically does not receive the consistently bad weather that other parts of the country do, local businesses that operate at least partially outdoors are caught in a Catch-22 during bad weather and the pandemic.
At Outlaw Pass, 78 Tate Road, activities like go-karting, a climbing rock wall and miniature golf attractions are frequented by customers more on a day with good weather, said Julie Mize who co-owns the local entertainment business with her husband Mark Mize.
Most of the attractions at Outlaw Pass are outside, which Mize said she thinks most families or groups feel freer to use because of COVID-19, as opposed to being indoors. But the negative effect, she said, is that with so many activities outside, when the weather is rainy or cold, then it reduces the foot traffic.
Despite this, Mize said she and her husband have used the winter to put down new grass at the miniature golf course in preparation for their fifth anniversary of opening Outlaw Pass in March, which is a time she expects business to pick up because of better weather.
While weather and the pandemic have affected the number of customers, Mize said the indoor attractions like an arcade room and snack bar are still open and being visited by customers.
In the car sales industry — one that remained busy throughout 2020 — sales professional Seth Zapata said bad weather during winter months does slow down business. Rain and cold causes fewer people to want to shop on a car lot.
At Victory Kia, 5101 N. Navarro St., Zapata said it takes better deals on cars and incentives like increasing referral fees from $100 to $200 from mid-October through the end of January to keep business strong.
For drivers pulling off the lot with a new car, precipitation of any kind can cause more dangerous driving conditions.
In heavy rain, snow or icy conditions, Sommerville said it is best if drivers slow down and add extra drive time. Additionally, she said some drivers of four-wheel drive cars believe they can drive through a skid, but they can’t really. In the case of hydroplaning or skidding because of wet roads, she said stay calm and turn into the skid.
Taking pets inside and checking on older residents is also important, Sommerville said.
On Monday, the high is expected to reach into the mid- to upper-40s and the low is expected to be in the mid- or low-30s. Into the week Sommerville expects the Victoria County weather to be cold but with less precipitation, and provide for better business opportunities for many area operations.
