Houston, It's Snowing In July!
(Syracuse, N.Y., March 4, 2002) -- If ever a city was the ideal place for air conditioning, it's Houston, Texas. Typical summer weather in the Gulf of Mexico-coast town is about as hot and humid as you can imagine, with temperatures frequently greater than 90 degrees F, and humidity above 60 percent. It's the ideal environment for air conditioning. It's also the last place you'd expect to see snow showers. Yet from 1968 to 1983, snow was a daily occurrence in Houston! At the Astroworld amusement park in Houston, visitors to the Alpine Sled ride experienced real snow at a temperature of 10 degrees Fahrenheit, no matter what the outdoor temperature.
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Carrier was the inventive force behind this unusual ride. As sled-borne visitors were propelled through rooms cooled to different temperatures, they passed through an avalanche of artificial snow, and finally into the 10 degree Fahrenheit room. The room contained a prefabricated cooler 20 feet long, where real snow was produced by air-water nozzles and drifted down on the riders. The ride also included an appearance by the "Abominable Snowman," a glacier and a waterfall.
Another unique attraction cooled by Carrier was the "Lost World" water ride. Open-sided air conditioned riverboats took 25 passengers each on an adventure filled tour of a winding African river.
Carrier cooling systems were also featured in many other areas of the park. Cool air poured over visitors in all shaded waiting areas, at the umbrella-topped tables of park restaurants and cafes, at many of the rides and in the clusters of wide-open buildings. Astroworld also featured "air relief" stations located throughout the park so that patrons not waiting in line or inside a building could get a cool air shower.
The air conditioning systems were concealed in interesting ways as well. The ceiling in the Hong Kong outdoor waiting area was made partly of bamboo. Since conventional rectangular outlets would have eliminated the Oriental effect, slots were cut in the bamboo to accommodate the air outlets. In addition, the ductwork in many buildings had to be specially designed to blend with the interior décor.
Astroworld was conceptualized by Judge Roy Hofheinz, former Houston mayor and creator of the Houston Astrodome. When it opened in 1968, Astroworld was the world's largest amusement park and featured more than 1,600 tons of Carrier cooling, making it home to the world's largest outdoor air conditioning systems.
When completed, the enormous Astroworld cooling system featured a pair of electrically driven Carrier hermetic centrifugal refrigerating machines connected in series and located in a central plant building at one corner of the playland. Adjacent to the plant was a two-cell cooling tower.
Astroworld was leased by the Six Flags Corporation in 1975, and today is known as Six Flags Astroworld. Although some original attractions have stood the test of time, others such as the "Lost World" water ride and Alpine Sleighs have given way to more modern attractions.
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