Sleet falling west of Fort Worth could move into the area for rush hour

Sleet is now falling west of Fort Worth and will move into Tarrant County between 5 and 6 p.m., which could lead to a messy commute home.

“We are seeing bands of sleet west of Mineral Wells and near Graham, but we aren’t seeing any accumulations because temperatures remain above freezing,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Godwin.

Those light bands of sleet will slowly move eastward, but temperatures should remain above freezing, meaning no impacts on roads or bridges.

“We'll probably just be above freezing,” Godwin said. “It is going to be close if it lingers until 10 o’clock in Fort Worth, but we think the precipitation will have moved out by then.”

At 2 p.m., the temperature was 41 degrees at Fort Worth’s Meacham Field with gusts up to 40 mph. In Graham and Mineral Wells, it was 37 degrees.

When the front moved through this morning, temperatures dropped 8 degrees to 53 in an hour at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

The combination of snow or sleet with strong winds could affect visibility. There’s a 50 percent chance of snow or sleet and “minor accumulations are possible from Dallas-Fort Worth northward to the Red River,” the weather service said.

Most areas will see less than an inch, but isolated areas north of DFW could see up to 2 inches.

Temperatures are expected to remain above freezing during rush hour in the DFW area, but it’ll be colder farther north and there could be some slippery road conditions.

“The whole thing is going to move pretty quick,” said meteorologist Patricia Sanchez.

The Texas Department of Transportation has been pretreating bridges and has crews ready if wintry weather moves into the area.

American Airlines canceled 64 departures out of DFW Airport Thursday and 66 arrivals in anticipation of ground delays due to the weather, said airline spokesman Ross Feinstein. The airline had to cancel 149 departures because of weather on Dec. 31.

The cold front will drop temperatures to 26 by Friday morning, warming to 46 in the afternoon. Saturday’s low will be in the mid-20s with highs in the low 40s.

Fort Worth’s street department has 12 sanding units ready with the ability to add more if necessary.

County emergency management officials are also monitoring the situation.

The city also has cold weather overflow shelter operations on standby. It will be activated based on bed availability at area community shelters.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Sleet falling west of Fort Worth could move into the area for rush hour."