Snow Moving Southeast, More Possible Through Afternoon
Only two inches of snow needed to break record
By FRANK HEINZ, GRANT STINCHFIELD and SCOTT GORDON
Updated 11:52 AM CST, Tue, Feb 23, 2010
Weather you love the beauty of a snowfall or refer to it only as that annoying white stuff that falls from the sky, another winter snowfall is pushing into North Texas Tuesday morning. Snowflakes began falling in Parker County around 5 a.m. By 6 a.m., those flakes grew much larger and the winds stronger as the upper level high continued its push into North Texas.
The snow began falling in the Metroplex at about 7 a.m. Periods of heavy snow are expected Tuesday morning, though the snowfall is expected to taper off to just flurries in the afternoon. Overall, 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected in North Texas, with southern counties receiving more of the snowfall, said NBC DFW Meteorologist Jennifer Lopez.
Higher totals are likely from Stephenville to Hillsboro to Corsicana to Athens. Areas even farther south could see even more; up to 6 inches of snow is possible in the Waco area. Most of the snow in the Metroplex is staying south of Interstate 20, and snow is falling as far south as San Antonio. Travel on Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth could be impacted by the weather.
By 6:25 a.m., several school districts had closed for the day while several others opted to delay the start of class until 10 a.m. See a complete list of closings and delays here.
The high temperatures across DFW on Tuesday are expected to hit the upper 30s.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport spokesman David Magana said 90 flights were canceled Tuesday morning and planes were being deiced. Magana added that the runways were in good shape.
The National Weather Service said San Angelo, Midland, Odessa and Lubbock had received snow Tuesday morning as the storm tracked toward the Waco and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.
This latest snow event is not expected to drop nearly as much in North Texas as the record-breaking snowfall that fell earlier this month. A new record of 12.5 inches of snow in a 24-hour period was set at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (11.2 inches for Thursday, Feb. 11) -- and flakes were still coming down after midnight. The previous daily record was 7.8 inches on Jan. 15, 1964, and another 7.8 inches on Jan. 14, 1917. The previous 24-hour record was 12.1 inches.
The total for this winter, so far, is 15.7 inches, the second highest recorded in North Texas history. The highest recorded snowfall for a winter season was in 1977-78 with 17.6 inches of snow. So, with up to 2 inches of snow possible again in North Texas, we could break the all-time record for snowfall in a winter season.
TxDOT braces for more snow
The Texas Department of Transportation is once again getting crews ready to hit the roads. On Tuesday morning, crews began loading trucks with de-icing material.
The agency said this year's record-setting snow is taking a toll on its budget. TxDOT said it has already responded to twice as many storms than it plans for each season.
"All the snowfall has had a big impact on us," TxDOT spokeswoman Cynthia Northrop-White said.
The agency said it has plenty of snow and de-icing material to respond to Tuesday's predicted storm, but the added cost will have to be made up somewhere. Northrop-White said she fears TxDOT will be forced to cut some planned road maintenance projects such as repaving.
A fresh coating of snow will also delay repairs to potholes that developed in the last snowstorm and could cause additional potholes.
More snow could weaken more trees
Many cities are also still cleaning up debris from the storm earlier this month.
"I haven't seen this much debris from trees since the 2000 tornado," said Fort Worth city forester Melinda Adams.
And city workers are worried that more snow could bring branches that were weakened by the earlier storm tumbling down. Falling limbs could damage electric lines and cause more power outages. (Watch a video report.)
Many limbs are wedged among other branches and are in danger of falling at any time, Adams said.
"They're amazingly heavy,” she said. “Even a branch of three inches in diameter can be incredibly heavy, and when they come down they tend to come straight down like a missile."
Live oaks and cedar elm trees seem to suffer the most damage, Adams said.
For the latest winter weather forecast, head to our Weather page.
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First Published: Feb 22, 2010 5:07 PM CST
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