Bitter cold weather is coming to North Texas. Tips for your plants, pipes & pickups
North Texans only experience true wintry weather every few years — and it looks like one of those opportunities may be coming our way later this week.
The Dallas-Fort Worth region may experience its coldest temperatures in years during the next week or so, possibly beginning with freezing temperatures accompanied by freezing rain Wednesday night — and a good chance for accumulated snow Monday and Tuesday.
It’s still a bit early, but it looks like the region could experience lows in the low-teens on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with daytime highs remaining below freezing on those days, according to the National Weather Service.
Residents may need to bring their potted plants inside, cover their house water pipes with insulation or take other steps to cope with the cold, officials said.
“It’s hard for plants, just like us, to go from temperatures of 70 degrees and sunshine, to maybe 20 degrees,” said Laura Miller, Tarrant County agricultural extension agent for commercial horticulture.
For those who haven’t experienced the North Texas version of a deep freeze in awhile, or those who just need a refresher, here are some tips:
Which plants to bring inside
Many plants that are commonly found in North Texas — including ornamental cabbage, kale, pansies and other vegetation often planted during the fall for cold-weather ground cover — will probably survive the cold weather on their own and don’t necessarily need special care, Miller said.
Other plants, including palms, citrus and other plants more suited for tropical weather should be covered or, if possible, brought inside the house, she said.
If possible, plants brought inside the house should be kept near a window for sunlight. Plants that are in the ground or otherwise must be kept outside can be covered with a frost cloth (available at most home improvement stores) or another similar, light cloth such as a cotton bed sheet.
Make sure that any cloth you drape over your plants is light enough to allow sunlight and air to pass through to the plants. Also, secure the cloth to the ground with stones or other weights, to trap in the warm air, Miller said.
Avoid using garbage bags, tarps or other plastic sheets to cover plants — as plastic often doesn’t let air and sunlight pass through, and also can actually heat up (even in subfreezing temperatures) and burn the plants.
Also, before the freezing weather arrives it’s a good idea to give plants a good drink of water with the garden hose. Moist soil will help plants endure freezing temperatures, Miller said.
Those who have palm trees should wrap the “growing point” near the top of the tree with a frost cloth, Miller said. Wrapping the trunk with a cloth isn’t as helpful, she said, since the trunk is already formed and protected by dead leaves — or fronds — from the tree.
Cover water pipes, disconnect garden hoses
Speaking of garden hoses, it’s important to disconnect them from outdoor faucets before the freeze comes. If you try to turn on a garden hose that has freezing water inside, your rubber hose will likely split, and you’ll have to replace it.
Any pipes on the outside of the house should be covered with insulation. Home improvement stores carry a variety of foam sleeves to wrap around your pipes.
Pipes that are in unheated parts of the house such as in crawl spaces or under cabinets should also be covered with insulation.
Just in case a pipe breaks during freezing weather, it’s important that everyone in the household knows where the main water connection to the house is, and how to shut it off, according to Fort Worth’s water department.
Avoid driving on ice, especially in pickups
It might seem to go without saying that it can be extremely dangerous to drive on icy roads, but — based on the region’s history with winter weather — thousands of North Texans will probably do it anyway.
Beginning Monday, the Texas Department of Transportation was already treating bridges in the Fort Worth area with a liquid brine. The agency will continue to place the salty liquid on bridges and roads in a nine-county area in the western half of the Metroplex as needed throughout this week, spokesman Val Lopez said.
Beyond the usual advice for drivers in icy conditions — i.e. go easy on the brakes, steer into (not away from) a skid, etc. — it’s important to note that many two-wheel-drive pickups that are commonly used in North Texas can be extraordinarily difficult to control when the roads are slick.
If you own a pickup that doesn’t have four-wheel-drive, it’s a good idea to place some heavy cargo in the back of the pickup — a few 40-pound bags of topsoil from the local hardware store will probably do the trick — to prevent the vehicle from fishtailing on slippery streets.
Be careful with child car seats
When it’s cold outside and you’re just trying to get into the car quickly, it may be tempting to buckle a young child into a car seat while the youngster is still wearing a thick winter coat.
But that can cause car seats to malfunction, according to the AAA auto club. It’s better to take off the child’s coat — even if that creates a few seconds of discomfort — and make sure the car seat straps fit correctly.
“Harness straps should lay flat and snug against the body, and not have any twists or padding,” AAA child passenger safety technician Kara Shorp said in an email. “Parents should buckle their kids in cars without jackets first, and then cover them with something like a blanket. The seat belt should be snug enough that you can’t pinch any of the strap material at the child’s shoulder.”
Other precautions
As the cold weather moves in, MedStar, which provides ambulance services for much of the Fort Worth area, will place a priority on protecting patients from the cold as the wind chill dips below 20 degrees, spokesman Matt Zavadsky said.
North Texans are urged to limit outdoor activity during extreme cold, Zavadsky said. When someone is shivering it’s actually a positive sign that their body is regulating its heat — but it’s also a sign that it’s time to go inside and warm up immediately, before the body loses the ability to handle the stress of the cold.
Once hypothermia sets in, victims can become confused and unresponsive, he said.
Also, residents are urged to regularly check on elderly or chronically ill friends or family members, who may be more susceptible to hypothermia — an emergency medical situation in which a human body loses more heat than it can produce — after prolonged exposure to even mildly cool temperatures.
Also, avoid using gas-powered portable heaters in an enclosed space — even a garage. Gas-burning devices — including stoves — can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that can overcome people with very little warning.
Electrical portable heaters don’t carry the same carbon monoxide risk, but residents who use them should take extra care to ensure the heaters don’t come into contact with any papers, clothing or other flammable material. Also, they shouldn’t be used in an area where someone might accidentally bump into them, which could cause not only a fire, but also severe burns to the skin.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
