Another round of snow, ice possible for North Texas

For the second day in a row, Tarrant County got dusted with snowflakes, but forecasters say there are more chances for harsher winter weather on Friday and Saturday.

Officials with Fort Worth’s Cowtown Marathon, a weekend event that is expected to draw more than 30,000 runners, said they are monitoring the forecasts.

“At this time, all races remain on schedule for both Saturday and Sunday,” Cowtown spokeswoman Cara DeFord said. Friday “afternoon we expect to confirm our event plans and announce any race changes. Runners run in the rain, but if snow or ice appears we will make decisions to assure participant safety.”

For now, meteorologists are calling for a 60 percent chance of snow on Friday with a high of 31, changing to a wintry mix on Friday night.

A Winter Weather advisory will be in effect from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday.

“The snow should start late [Friday] morning,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Gudmestad. “Snow accumulations should be an inch or less. There will be light accumulations through Friday and into Saturday morning.”

But the precipitation is expected to change to a mixture of snow and freezing rain Friday night and freezing rain on Saturday morning. All of it should be gone by noon Saturday when temperatures climb above freezing.

That light glaze of ice might be enough to affect the Cowtown’s 10K and 5K races that are scheduled to begin Saturday morning when there’s a 60 percent chance of freezing drizzle with a high of 38. The half-marathon and marathon are Sunday when temperatures will be above freezing.

DeFord, the event’s social media coordinator, advised participants and attendees to monitor the Cowtown Marathon Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, Website and local media for the most current information.

WFAA meteorologist Colleen Coyle said the next two systems should be relatively light, with Friday’s heaviest snowfall expected to fall outside the DFW area.

“It looks like the heaviest amounts of snow will in the same areas where it was Thursday in Parker, Palo Pinto and Wise counties and then up toward the Red River,” Coyle said. “Here, I think we’ll see a dusting to a covering.”

She said she expects the snow to arrive after Friday morning’s commute. The biggest impact to roads could be from freezing rain on Saturday morning.

“We don’t expect to be entombed in ice on Saturday,” Coyle said. “We could have a few patches of ice on Saturday morning.”

Sunday’s forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of rain with a high temperature of 54.

On Thursday, the heaviest snow in the area was west of Fort Worth around Mineral Wells and Graham.

“It’s snowing pretty hard,” Mineral Wells Mayor Mike Allen said Thursday morning. “It’s sticking on the grass but not the streets and sidewalks.”

Snow was noticeable in the Fort Worth area Thursday morning, but it did not stick around for long.

While not dramatic, this week’s combination of rain, ice and snow helps.

It has added about 25,000 acre-feet to the Tarrant Regional Water District water supply and lakes. That adds about a month’s worth of water, said David Marshall, TRWD’s director of engineering and operations support.

The wet pattern that has been sending storms across Texas is expected to continue next week. There’s a chance of rain each day through next Wednesday. In the latest drought monitor that came out Wednesday, parts of North Texas, including Tarrant, Dallas, Parker and Palo Pinto remain in exceptional drought.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Another round of snow, ice possible for North Texas."