Schools closed Tuesday and other useful information

Schools closed or delayed

As of 8 p.m. Monday, these closures on Tuesday had been reported to the Star-Telegram. Check websites and social media, or call schools and organizations that are not listed.

School districts: Arlington, Argyle, Burleson, Crowley, Carroll, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Cedar Hill, Dallas, Denton, Duncanville, Fort Worth, Grapevine-Colleyville, Grand Prairie, Keller, Mansfield, Northwest and White Settlement.

Higher education: Tarrant County College campuses, UT-Arlington and Texas Wesleyan universities closed. The University of North Texas and TCU will open at noon.

Government: All city offices in Aledo are closed. Most local county offices have delayed openings.

Other: The Fort Worth Catholic Diocese’s Catholic Center will be closed. The American Cancer Society’s Cowtown Ball Reception scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled. March 10 is the new date at Park Place Mercedes-Benz of Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Fire urges people to protect pipes

Problems with freezing in unheated buildings usually occur 24 hours into a cold spell, which is why the Fort Worth Fire Department is urging people to leave heating systems on at least 50 degrees tonight.

Doing so will help protect fire sprinklers and pipes from freeze damage, according to the department. Pipes at most risk are those exposed in unheated homes, pipes in exterior walls and plumping on the exterior of the home, according to a statement from the Fort Worth Fire Department.

The city’s Water Department is also asking people to turn off residential irrigation systems. Broken water mains should be immediately reported to the department’s 24-hour phone number at 817-392-4477 so they can be repaired as soon as possible.

More information on how to protect pipes can be found on the City’s website here.

— Monica S. Nagy

NBC 5’s ‘Texas Thunder Truck’ rides the storm out

In January, KXAS/Channel 5 debuted its “Texas Thunder Truck,” a Ford F-250 Super Duty tricked out for storm-chasing and live reports from significant weather events. And what better weather event to show off a vehicle’s road-worthiness than a sleet/ice storm?

But this isn’t just any tricked-out Ford F-250 Super Duty. From NBC 5’s January story: “It has three HD point-of-view cameras that can point in any direction and it can transmit dual HD streams while driving on or off road. Thunder Truck even has its own Twitter account; follow along @TXThunderTruck.”

But there’s so much more to the Thunder Truck, designed by Accelerated Media Technologies, and NBC 5 is very proud and excited about it. Here, let meteorologist Rick Mitchell show you:

The station is running a live video stream from the Thunder Truck, which is, well, mostly dashcam shots of icy roads as the Thunder Truck navigates them (if you scroll the station’s Facebook page, you can see a clip of morning meteorologist/traffic reporter Samantha Davies boarding the truck). But occasionally, something happens. Here’s the live stream:

— Robert Philpot

Postal Service to work around the clock

U.S. Postal Service employees in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area will work around the clock to deliver mail, says a statement from the service. Post offices are expected to stay open for normal hours unless roads make them inaccessible or a power outage occurs. Mail delivery may be temporarily stopped in areas where roads are unsafe. Customers who can't get delivery can pick up mail at a local post office. The postal service asked customers to clear mailbox areas and sidewalks - carriers are instructed to not deliver mail in hazardous areas. For information, call 800-275-8777.

— Judy Wiley

Winter temperatures strain homeless service providers

When the temperatures drop below 40 degrees, residents at the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Fort Worth are allowed to stay inside all day, but that service puts a strain on the shelter, said Toby Owen, executive director.

“Our biggest expenses on these two days will be food, the electric bill and the water bill. Those are often expenses that get lost, but they are very, very important and we always have a spike with the number of people inside,” Owen said.

In January, for example, the Presbyterian Night Shelter spent $9,000 on its water bill. A typical water bill is around $6,000.

“Financial donations are always so helpful to offset those needs,” Owen said.

The shelter, which reached capacity last night, sent other people seeking shelter to the Bertha Collins Recreation Center, the city’s overflow shelter in inclement weather.

The overflow shelter housed 42 people last night. Shuttles to the Bertha Collins Recreation Center will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. from area shelters today.

More information on area shelters and to donate can be found on their websites:

http://journeyhome.org

https://www.ugm-tc.org

http://www.salvationarmydfw.org

http://www.salvationarmydfw.org

— Caty Hirst

Sleet on roads better than ice, TxDOT says

Roads are blanketed in a white layer of sleet, but traffic is moving relatively well, Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Val Lopez said around midmorning.

“Traffic is flowing well at this point,” Lopez said in a phone interview. “There is a large volume of sleet out there. It did come down pretty heavy in a short amount of time.”

No major highway closures were reported at 7:45 a.m. in the western part of the Metroplex. State highway crews plan to remain on around-the-clock duty at least through mid-Tuesday.

“It’s going to remain cold. It’s going to remain below freezing until tomorrow mid-morning or so. We’re going to have to continue to be out there,” Lopez said. “We’re not going to stop operations until we know the situation is better.”

But, generally, the situation appeared to be under control Monday morning, Lopez said. Efforts to pretreat roads and bridges beginning Sunday night appeared to help minimize the amount of ice on roads, he said.

And, he said, it helps that the wintry precipitation falling out of the sky was sleet, rather than freezing rain.

Sleet is a softer form of precipitation. Tire tracks can more easily form in sleet, giving motorists a relatively safe path upon which to drive. Also, sleet gives the transportation department’s ice-prevention chemicals, sand and other materials a chance to work — unlike freezing rain, which simply hits the ground hard and frozen.

“There’s a lot of crunchy, slushy ice out there, but it’s certainly better than freezing rain.”

— Gordon Dickson

Fewer trains running because of sleet

The Trinity Railway Express is running fewer trains today in response to weather conditions, according to a spokeswoman for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, an agency also known as the T.

The winter weather is forcing public transit agencies to step up their maintenance efforts, which is leading to a decrease in train frequency, spokeswoman Joan Hunter said.

TRE’s inclement weather schedule is similar to a Saturday schedule, but with extra trains during peak periods, she said.

Also in the public transportation realm, Dallas Area Rapid Transit is operating on a revised schedule. DART is running with a combination of light-rail and buses generally within the LBJ loop around the Dallas area.

— Gordon Dickson

Teen injured in Fort Worth house fire

Two other boys escaped injuries. Firefighters responded to the blaze in the 3600 block of Hatcher Street about 11 p.m. On arrival, they discovered heavy fire coming from the residence.

One of the boys was injured when he escaped through a broken window, firefighter Kyle Clark, a Fire Department spokesman, said in a news release.

He was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital; his condition was not available Monday.

Fire investigators have ruled the blaze an accident, but the investigation remains open.

— Domingo Ramirez Jr.

MedStar suspends use of red lights, sirens

MedStar officials have suspended the use of red light and sirens responses because of the slippery conditions.

Officials have temporarily stopped using the lights to prevent crashes from cars and other vehicles attempting to move out of the way of rescue vehicles.

Ambulances had responded to 51 crashes with injuries on area roadways from Sunday night until about 3 p.m. Monday. Paramedics also had responded to one cold exposure call.

— Domingo Ramirez Jr.

Residential, recycling collection canceled in Fort Worth

Garbage, recycling and yard trimming collections for Monday have been canceled in Fort Worth because of the icy roads and highways.

All collections for Monday will move forward one day. Monday collection routes will be serviced on Tuesday; Tuesday’s on Wednesday; Wednesday’s on Thursday; Thursday’s on Friday; and Friday’s on Saturday.

Bulk waste collection also is canceled on Monday, but all homes on this week’s route will be serviced this week, city officials said.

— Domingo Ramirez Jr.

City of Bedford announces cancellations

Bedford has canceled several events scheduled for tonight because of inclement weather. There will be no teen court, and the Arts Talk and senior citizens dance have been canceled.

— Elizabeth Campbell

Star-Telegram carriers expected to deliver most papers

Carriers working for the Star-Telegram were expected to fully cover deliveries on 279 of our 378 home-delivery routes, or 74 percent, according to Jim Pellegrino, consumer distribution director. At least partial delivery was expected on another 35 routes, or 9 percent. Newspapers on 64 routes, or 17 percent, did not leave the warehouse and were not delivered because of ice. Today’s newspaper can be seen using our Olive reader.

Fort Worth activates emergency shelter plan

City officials have activated the cold weather emergency shelter plan because of the frigid temperataures.

Bertha Collins Recreation Center, 1501 N. South Freeway, will be opened to handle the overflow from community homeless shelters.

Shuttles to the overflow center will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. from area shelters.

— Domingo Ramirez Jr.

Weather wipes out half the flights at DFW

More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at DFW Airport today due to the weather. David Magana, an airport spokesman, told NBC 5 that the airport was trying to keep four runways open and that de-icing operations were under way.

Magana said that represents a little more than half the daily scheduled flights. In December 2013, he said, about 90 percent of the flights were canceled.

Departing flights | Arriving flights

— Kathy Vetter

Southbound lanes closed on Bush Turnpike

Motorists heading north and east of Arlington may want to avoid the President George Bush Turnpike.

All southbound lanes of the Bush Turnpike are closed at Belt Line Road in Carrollton because of a crash involving an 18-wheeler, the North Texas Tollway Authority’s Susan Slupecki reported at 7 a.m.

The rest of the tollway system is functioning, she said. However, there are reports of slick spots on the Bush Turnpike western extension near Interstate 20 in the Irving-Grand Prairie area. This is a part of the turnpike frequently used by residents of cities such as Arlington and Mansfield to get to the Dallas area.

— Gordon Dickson

Tollways remain ice-free so far

All toll roads in the region remain open, and driving conditions are passable, the North Texas Tollway Authority reported early today.

“Approximately 96 sand trucks are patrolling the NTTA system,” tollway spokeswoman Susan Slupecki said in an email. “As precipitation falls during the early Monday morning hours, crews will patrol and monitor NTTA roadways for any slick spots, and sand where necessary.”

The agency, which is based in Plano but operates tollways throughout the Metroplex, uses pavement sensors to keep tracks of surface temperature readings. For example, as of 3:38 a.m. Monday an overpass on the President George Bush Turnpike at Dallas North Tollway read 28.8 degrees.

No readings were available for Chisholm Trail Parkway, a 28-mile toll road from Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to U.S. 67 in Cleburne that opened last year.

Region-wide, the tollway authority has two brine stations and 13 material stockpiles to more quickly respond to any icy spots that might develop on tollways.

“Hot shot” trucks from the tollway authority’s maintenance department can be dispatched to any trouble spots, which can then be treated with a deicing material known as MD 20 and sand, Slupecki said.

— Gordon Dickson

No food delivered Monday by Meals on Wheels

Officials have decided not to deliver food today to Meals on Wheels residents because of winter weather conditions.

Officials encouraged residents to check on elderly family members and neighbors because of the inclement weather conditions across Tarrant County.

— Domingo Ramirez Jr.

Weatherford schools join closure list

Weatherford schools joined the list of closures early Monday. Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, Grapevine-Colleyville and UT-Arlington are among the districts and universities closed.

— Kathy Vetter

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 6:55 AM with the headline "Schools closed Tuesday and other useful information."