ARLINGTON, Texas — Derrick Penno’s first time tailgating outside a Dallas Cowboys game was Sunday. The wind chill in the morning when they arrived and began setting up was in the single digits.
“Our first time was a cold one,” Penno said. “Just trying to stay out of the wind and kind of stay warm.”
A few parking spots over, TJ Villarreal’s crew huddled around a grill they turned into a firepit and a gas-powered heater.
“A few years ago, I think we played the Washington Football Team and it was really cold too,” he said. “We set up the tent and we tried to anchor it down and even our weights weren’t really working.”
By kickoff, it had warmed up to a balmy 39 degrees
“It does not feel like it’s 39,” Penno said “At all.”
On Saturday, temperatures plummeted 50 degrees in just hours, from 70s in the day to some areas of North Texas seeing sleet and 30-degree temperatures at night.
OurCalling in Dallas sheltered 150 homeless people overnight and transported 50 more to nearby shelters.
“We know beyond that we’ll start running into some barriers with social distancing,” CEO Wayne Walker said. “We’ve got plans that we put together and it’s days like today when we deploy them.”
Walker said despite the plans, it’s still a hustle to get everything ready for the high demand.
“We’ve got to figure out how to come up with extra food, bring in extra staff, emergency staffing,” he said.
December 2021 was the warmest December ever in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and it shattered the record by a full seven degrees.
“It’s crazy, but it’s Texas weather,” Penno said. You don’t ever know what it’s going to do.”
Winter stayed away for a while, but the new year brought a new season with it.