DFW sees first snow of winter season; 3 inches reported in Denton, Wise counties
The Dallas-Fort Worth region experienced its first snow of the winter season Saturday morning, with residents in cities farther north like Decatur and Denton reporting as much as 3 inches of accumulation.
Photos and videos posted to social media show snow-packed roads and front yards, as well as snowflakes falling and swirling in the wind. Jason Godwin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said a cold front moved into the region around 8 or 9 p.m. Friday on the heels of severe weather including tornado conditions. That ushered in much colder air, he said, and snow began to develop early Saturday morning.
The weather service received reports of snow out of Breckenridge around 4:30 a.m., Wise County around 6 a.m. and Denton around 7 a.m., with the storm tracking from southwest to northeast out of West Texas, he said. It reportedly began snowing in Fort Worth around 8 a.m.
Decatur, Denton and Wise County all had a reported 3 inches of snow, while other areas like Fort Worth saw almost no accumulation, according to the weather service.
But, with temperatures below freezing Saturday morning, Godwin said the entire region experienced a sudden blast of winter.
“We had a very strong cold front come through,” he said, “with rapidly falling temperatures yesterday evening.”
It was 67 degrees at Fort Worth International Airport at 9:20 a.m. Friday compared to 30 at 9:20 a.m. Saturday, he said, showing the sharp increase in winter weather the region experienced.
In Denton, the snow was heaviest between about 7 and 9:30 a.m. before it began “winding down,” he said. But, as of around 9:50 a.m., he said the weather service was still receiving reports of snow from Dallas-Love Field Airport.
Even residents who didn’t see a lot of accumulation Saturday might have had to deal with icy windows on cars or slick sidewalks due to the freezing of snow, he said.
The weather is expected to warm up again soon, however, with a forecasted high of around 62 on Sunday, 69 on Monday and 74 on Tuesday, according to the weather service. Warm air is expected to move into the region, Godwin said, as a high pressure system carrying cold air is expected to move out.
That means the first snow of the season likely won’t stick around too long.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 11:08 AM.
