SOTT – by Jeff Jamison, CBS DFW
If there was ever any doubt Texas weather can turn on a dime, it was crushed under the weight of thundersleet today.
After two balmy days in the 80s, temperatures crashed Sunday into the 20s. A precipitous drop with, yes, precipitation to go with it.
We’ve seen freezing rain and sleet on and off most of the day across North Texas, with some heavier pockets of thundersleet at times. Thundersleet is basically a thunderstorm that produces sleet instead of rain…but it still has lightning & thunder associated with it.
Some locations have picked up over 1/2″ of sleet causing slick spots, mainly on bridges & overpasses. Most of the icy precipitation will end by 7pm. By the way, the last time the DFW Metroplex saw a Winter Storm Warning in March or later was March 6, 2008. Collin County and areas just to the north and east saw a Winter Storm Warning on March 21, 2010.
The bitter cold is the other big story. A wind chill advisory is in effect overnight until 8am Monday for “feels like” numbers in the -5 to 0 range! That is dangerous cold and can lead to frostbite very quickly. Actual temperatures will be in the teens at wake-up on Monday.
High temperatures Monday will stay below freezing for most of North Texas. With many dry hours expected, a lot of the moisture will have a chance to evaporate or sublimate.
There is a slight chance of more possible wintry weather by Tuesday morning, but then a bigger warm-up by the end of the week. There are signs of more cold air for next weekend though. Remember, winter doesn’t officially end until March 19th, not that it matters it seems this year.
I know that what I got to say about your weather down there in texas, but like they have always told me up here in snow bird country that you will get used to it – well i got something to say about that get used to it BS, it doesn`t work that way because you never get use to it. that weather you guys are getting down there really sucks.
I keep thinking about the street/homeless people and how they are doing it.
NC, and others down there – I hope for the best for ya all, I know what it is like and it is no fun imoho my friends.
My thoughts are with you all during this bad weather .
In 1975, in October, I went to work at 11 pm (11-7 shift at a hospital in Houston) and it was about 80 degrees. When I left the next morning the car wouldn’t start…it was 20 degrees!
On February 1, 2011, it was about 60 or so during the day. The following morning, Groundhog day, it was 1 degree! That was the start of what we call “the big freeze” where just about everyone’s pipes froze and that weekend you couldn’t buy PVC or PEX pipe because every plumbing supply shop from Alpine to El Paso to Midland-Odessa was old out!
Yep, that’s SOP for weather in Texas, and I live about 80 miles from Mexico as the crow flies…
Hello Digger, I agree with you about ‘getting used to cold weather is BS’. I know I could never get used to it. I live in North Texas and Saturday was 81 but Sunday the temperature dropped about 60 degrees! This has been a colder than normal winter down here but the Northern states have really been hit hard with winter this year. I know you are all ready to welcome spring as we are too as well. Today it’s still cold, only going to be 35 and that’s cold for us, but the temperature will be up in the sixties by the end of this week. I hope that soon you good folks up North will start to see the beginning of the end of this winter season too as well. I thank you so much for your thoughts.
Yep, it was 80 degrees here in Dallas on Saturday all the way up until midnight. Then Sunday the next day, it was in the 10’s and 20’s freezing and sleet and now the roads are a sheet of ice. Absolutely ridiculous.
Of course, Dallas can invest in tolls for all of their highways (extortion fees), but for some reason they can’t use that money to put salt on them. What do you expect when the highways are owned by corporations who only care about their corporate profits.
NC, we live down in Cleburne and we didn’t get as much of the freezing rain, sleet as most of it was more to the Northeast. Our roads are in very good shape except maybe for the bridges. Yeah, corporate profits have to come before using any of that money from toll fees to buy salt for the highways. Of course.
A few weeks ago my husband and I drove 75 miles North to Frisco and I never saw so many toll roads in my life. Highway 121 to Cleburne is nearing completion and it will of course be a toll road, so far the only one down this way. I fear that once that happens Cleburne will grow by leaps and bounds. If not, then it’s because of the economy.
We got it good in Tx. for winter weather, nothing to complain about. It’s the summers that are unbearable to me. Would rather be hot than cold!!!! This is just a bump in the road. Piers Corbyn, astro physict said that we are experiencing a 10 yr. mini ice age, so I expect the states that are usually warmer to be cooler and the colder states to be colder, just as we have been experiencing. No global warming here!
Katie, I agree! 🙂