The icy blast coating North Texas this week brought another burst of freezing rain and sleet Tuesday, causing closures at schools and businesses, perilous conditions on the roads and cancellations at the region’s airports.
And the year’s first major winter weather event, which already set some records, isn’t over.
The National Weather Service’s winter weather storm warning, originally set to last through Wednesday, is now set to expire at 6 a.m. Thursday. The Dallas-Fort Worth area recorded a new daily snowfall record of 1.3 inches as of 5 p.m., above the previous record of 1.2 inches in 1985, the weather service said, adding that sleet on the ground counts as snowfall.
Thunder sleet — when sleet mixes with conditions that would typically cause a thunderstorm — fell furiously Tuesday morning in some parts of North Texas. In the Hollywood-Santa Monica neighborhood of East Dallas, the roads and rooftops went from completely clear to covered in white in three minutes.
More freezing rain is expected Wednesday. The weather service issued an ice storm warning until Thursday morning for parts of North Texas west of Dallas.
About half an inch of ice could build on trees and power lines in counties including Denton, Johnson and Tarrant, according to the weather service, which warned residents to prepare for power outages and broken tree limbs. Travel could be “nearly impossible through Wednesday night” in those counties, the weather service said.
Hazardous conditions were also expected to continue on roads in Dallas and Tarrant counties, where cars slid and at least one fatality accident was reported Tuesday in Arlington. Local and state officials urged people to stay home, or to slow down if they must drive.
Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that many roads will remain treacherous through Wednesday and some of Thursday. He said more than 1,600 roads across the state were affected by the weather but touted the effectiveness of the state’s power grid, which he said is functioning “very effectively.”
Power grid officials and the governor said outages have been localized and that people without electricity should reach out to their local power provider. About 19,000 customers across North and Central Texas were without power Tuesday evening, according to Oncor.
Treacherous roads cause crashes, injuries
Crashes, backed-up traffic and injuries were reported Tuesday across North Texas, where TxDOT crews have been on 24-hour shifts to treat roads and highways.
Spokeswoman Madison Schein said TxDOT has more than 100 pieces of equipment in Dallas County to address road conditions. She said crews spread more than 20,000 gallons of brine across 6,500 lane miles in Dallas.
Dallas crews also put down sand and salt on major roads and intersections, but residential streets will likely stay iced over until the weather warms, public works director Ali Hatefi said.
Dallas Fire-Rescue crews responded to 286 motor vehicle crashes between 7 a.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to spokesman Jason Evans. After that, he said, the numbers fell off dramatically — crews only responded to 27 crashes from 7 a.m. to about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“This is most likely due to a lot of businesses and school districts deciding early on to close down ahead of the continued weather,” Evans said, adding that “a very low percentage of the accidents we’ve responded to have resulted in transports to the hospital.”
Crews also responded to three cases of people outside in frigid temperatures seeking help, and two people were driven to homeless shelters, according to fire Deputy Chief James Russ.
In the Fort Worth area, there were more than 140 reported motor vehicle collisions with reported injuries as of 5 a.m. Tuesday, including 16 rollover crashes, according to Matt Zavadsky, a spokesman for MedStar. But calls fell off there, too, with MedStar responding to just six crashes from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There were also eight hypothermia-related calls, Zavadsky said. Seven people required hospitalization and five of those were in serious condition. In addition, nine people were injured in falls from slipping on ice
A 45-year-old man died in a crash in Arlington on Monday night after losing control of his vehicle on Interstate-20 and rolling down an embankment near Green Oaks Boulevard. He has not been identified.
A state trooper, Curtis Putz, was seriously injured Tuesday morning in Navarro County while responding to a roadside incident and is now hospitalized in Dallas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Businesses, airports, schools feel impact of freeze
Although many stores and restaurants closed as the band of sleet moved across North Texas, at some places, it was business as usual. Customers walked through the aisles at the Kroger on East Mockingbird Lane in northeast Dallas early Tuesday and grabbed food and necessities. The nearby 7-Eleven on Greenville Avenue was also open for customers needing to fill up on coffee or gas.
The predominant state of affairs across the region, however, was closures and cancellations.
School districts across North Texas — including Dallas, DeSoto, Fort Worth, Garland, Irving and Mesquite — closed through Wednesday. Many colleges and universities, like Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University, also canceled classes through Wednesday.
The impact was also felt at airports and on public transportation. DART’s rail service experienced “significant delays,” and its streetcar line, which runs from downtown Dallas to Oak Cliff, was not in service because of the weather. A spokesman said DART operations teams remain in place to respond to service disruptions.
At DFW International and Love Field airports, more than 1,000 total flights were canceled Tuesday. Airlines also started to chop flights scheduled for Wednesday, canceling 550 flights between the two airports.
City buildings close, garbage collection canceled
The hazardous road conditions in Dallas caused several city buildings to close Tuesday, including Dallas Municipal Court and all recreation centers.
Garbage and recycling collections also were canceled. Dallas sanitation department director Jay Council said it’s not immediately clear whether pickups will resume Wednesday or later in the week.
The downtown library opened Tuesday as a temporary homeless shelter with up to 250 beds, but the rest of the libraries — which were initially scheduled to open at noon — were among a slew of city facilities shut down because of the wintry weather.
For a third consecutive day, the city opened its temporary homeless shelter in South Dallas at 2929 Hickory St. The site is holding 295 people and has a capacity of 360 beds, according to Christine Crossley, director of Dallas’ office of homeless solutions.
Oak Lawn United Methodist Church and Warren United Methodist Church will also remain open as city-sanctioned temporary shelters, but Crossley said both are at capacity. The Oak Lawn church has 80 beds, and there are 50 at the other.
The city has shelter pickup zones south of Interstate 30, downtown and in the medical district and Forest Lane areas. People are asked to call 311 to arrange getting transportation to one of the sites.
Crossley said city homeless solutions staff are also looking for and picking up people without stable housing in need of shelter. In the event they refuse transportation, she said they are being given blankets, hats, socks and hand and foot warmers.
“This is not the best solution for people, I think we can all agree,” Crossley said. “We’d prefer that they go into shelter. But if they are refusing, the best chance for survival is going to be one of these cold weather packs.”
Staff writers Noor Adatia, Kyle Arnold, Sarah Bahari, Lana Ferguson, Sharon Grigsby, Philip Jankowski, Aria Jones, Jamie Landers and Zaeem Shaikh contributed to this report.
