CYPRESS, Texas – It’s no secret it’s cold outside. Whether we like it or not, Houston just welcomed a heart dose of arctic air to the region, bringing sub-freezing temperatures and dangerously low wind chills.
Thus, the headline of the story. Yes, you can freeze a t-shirt into a solid chunk of ice with these frigid temperatures.
KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding soaked a Buc-ee’s t-shirt in water and left it hanging outside.
And in 15 minutes, the shirt was frozen solid.
The Monday morning low in Cypress was around 23°F.
In this weather, a soaking-wet T-shirt hanging outside doesn’t take long at all to freeze.
The reason is simple: the water trapped in the fabric is spread out in a thin layer, which lets heat escape quickly into the much colder air.
Once that water cools to 32 degrees and below, it doesn’t instantly turn to ice; it has to lose a bit more energy to fully freeze, but in conditions this cold, that happens fast, especially if there’s any breeze.
The result is a shirt that goes from dripping wet to stiff and icy in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.
This quick freeze isn’t just a science experiment; it’s a warning: when temperatures are this low, exposed skin and wet clothing can become dangerous in minutes, so dress in layers, stay dry, and limit time outdoors whenever possible.
While this cold might not be the extreme cold you’ll see in the Northern part of the U.S., it’s enough to chill us Texans to the bone.