North Texas winter storm: What comes next, now that the snow has stopped?
North Texas woke up Thursday to a wintry mix of rain, ice and snow, but that wintry precipitation was coming to an end Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Frigid conditions were expected to continue into Thursday evening and Friday with temperatures in the low 20s.
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Forecast after snow ends
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth issued a wind chill advisory from 9 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday as snow came to an end in Dallas-Fort Worth. Wind chills are expected to go as low as minus-5 degrees in some areas.
The weather service said DFW received an average of 1.7 inches of snow and sleet Thursday, with an average of 2.5 inches in Fort Worth, based on official and public reports.
Eastland County had the highest amount, with an average of 5 inches of snow and sleet Thursday, followed by Montague County with an average of three 3 inches, according to the service.
Snow and sleet, mixed with freezing rain, changed over to snow late Thursday morning and then came to a close in the early afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Most snow had moved into East Texas by 2:30 p.m., but light snow started back up in the UT Arlington area around 4 p.m.
Parts of Fort Worth began seeing snow as of about 10 a.m. Snow began in Arlington around 10:15 a.m. and lasted in the area around UT Arlington until around 11:30 a.m.
Snowfall in Fort Worth slowed down, coming to an end around noon as it began moving toward the Dallas region.
The high Thursday was around 26 with wind chills between 5 and 10 and gusts up to 30 mph.
One to three inches of sleet and snow were forecast during the day Thursday, with higher totals farther into North Texas. Little to no additional ice accumulation was expected after Thursday morning.
Vehicle accidents and crashes
The Fort Worth Police Department said it did not receive any significant crash reports overnight into Thursday, but that calls remained “steady, with just a small number of accidents.”
A child was taken to a hospital with injuries in an accident, the South Division reported.
MedStar reported that between 3 p.m. Wednesday to noon Thursday, the ambulance service responded to 32 crashes with an injury.
MedStar also noted that with a response volume of 393 calls, 10 were for reports of hypothermia.
“[It’s] likely going to be a BUSY couple of days for area first responders,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Road conditions
Most roads and highways in the region remained “passable” Thursday, but officials encourage residents not to drive unless it’s an emergency.
“We’ve received a lot of precipitation overnight,” said Val Lopez with the Texas Department of Transportation in the Fort Worth District Office on Thursday. “But we’ve had only light traffic on roads and highways, and we hope it stays that way.”
The weather service shared photos taken between 11 a.m. and noon Thursday that showed treacherous road conditions in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and advised residents to avoid travel if at all possible.
The National Weather Service said roads will remain frozen overnight and into Friday morning, with melting possible in the afternoon Friday. A temperature drop Friday night into Saturday will refreeze anything that thaws, recreating hazardous road conditions.
Overnight precipitation totals
The Tarrant County area reported ice before midnight after rain began to fall Wednesday evening. The National Weather Service reported that 0.97 of an inch of precipitation fell over six hours. That total included moderate freezing rain and mist.
In Fort Worth, temperatures stuck around 24 overnight, with winds around 15 mph and as high as 25 mph.
Total ice accumulation was up to half an inch in some areas.
Power outages
The number of power outages in Texas continued to decrease Thursday afternoon with approximately 17,800 reported to Oncor just before 5 p.m. Thursday
At 2:45 p.m. the number was approximately 19,900, a decrease from around noon which had over 26,000 reports.
The highest number of outages during the winter storm, which hit the state Wednesday evening, was overnight Wednesday at 34,000.
As of 5 p.m., the electric delivery company, which serves 3.8 million customers, reported 885 Tarrant County customers without power and over 1,600 in Dallas County.
Hunt County maintained the highest number of power outages in North Texas with over 5,200 Oncor customers reporting outages. Collin County had the second highest in the region with over 4,900 reported outages. Both counties had fewer reported outages than they had at noon, which were over 5,800 and 5,400, respectively.
“We recognize the stresses and hardships our customers without power are facing, especially during this severe cold weather,” Oncor said in a company statement. “Nearly 6,000 Oncor employees and contractors have been working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, and this work will continue around the clock.”
Ahead of the winter storm, Oncor brought in additional resources and utility workers from across 10 other states to assist with power restoration efforts. By Thursday afternoon, Oncor reported over 1,700 out-of-state utility workers helping with restoration efforts, an increase from the initial 1,500 personnel they announced on Wednesday.
The company posted to its social media page Thursday that freezing temperatures and hazardous road conditions posed a challenge to crews, but that they would continue working 24 hours with weather permitting.
“Freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, rain and wind gusts of up to 30 mph are still being experienced in parts of the state,” Oncor said Thursday morning. “These conditions have led to 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of ice accumulation in some areas and are posing the greatest impact to electric service.”
Oncor customers can report outages and receive updates by registering for MyOncor text alerts by texting “REG” to 66267, downloading the MyOncor App, following Oncor on Facebook and Twitter, or by calling 888-313-4747.
Thursday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s electrical grid, reported that conditions confirmed there was enough power available to meet the current demand for electricity in the state.
Fort Worth warming centers
The City of Fort Worth said warming stations at its community centers will be available from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m.
“A warming station provides seating/warmth but not meals/cots,” the city said, adding that residents should call before traveling. “Staff is monitoring; if an overnight shelter is needed, we can open one quickly.”
The forecast into the weekend
The sun is expected to make an appearance Friday, and throughout the weekend, with temperatures hanging around a low of 12 degrees Friday morning and gradually climbing to a high of 47 degrees by Sunday.
Snow and ice is likely to stay on the roads Friday morning with the temperatures remaining cold before the possibility of afternoon thawing and overnight refreezing.
“Wintry precipitation will come to and end from west to east during the day today, but NO MELTING will occur due to temperatures staying well below freezing and skies remaining cloudy,” the weather service said Thursday.
Patchy freezing fog is possible in the morning hours for North and Central Texas, the service said. The best chance of a complete thaw will be on Saturday afternoon.
The weekend will be mostly sunny with light winds averaging around 10 mph.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 5:41 AM with the headline "North Texas winter storm: What comes next, now that the snow has stopped?."
