In his 10 years, Vincent Rivera of Corpus Christi, Tex., knew snow only as something experienced by others.

“My mom has been to places like Chicago and Washington, D.C., when it’s snowing, and she would tell me about it and I wish I could be there to see it,” he said in a phone interview on Friday night.

When snow was forecast for parts of Texas late Thursday night, he stayed up until midnight. His wait was in vain. But five hours later, he awoke to two inches at his home and as much as five inches in other parts of his neighborhood.

The snowfall, which Vincent described as a “pretty cool experience,” was the first recorded in Corpus Christi since 2004.