Texas Winter 2022-2023

[weatherdude1108]

Okay good news is temp has risen to 34 here and can see the ice melting so good news. Will be curious how much will melt before it gets dark.

Numerous tree limbs down in my neighborhood. Several large limbs down in my backyard, damaging a part of my fence. An entire tree fell down the street from my house, blocking my way out that way. Was hoping it would get to 33 at least to rid the trees of some of the load. It's still 28 at my house.

This event can't end soon enough!

[CaptinCrunch]

Don't let what you see fool ya, I have growing icycles on the metal table on the patio, trees have a glaze of ice on them, not to mention bridges and overpasses. once the temps drop a degree or 2 this evening I think the icying will rapidly intensify.

[Iceresistance]

A huge batch of freezing precipitation from Western Texas coming toward me, I'm watching it on the radar.


I've seen reports of over an inch of Sleet in DFW, and over .75 inch of Ice near Austin and San Antonio.

[Snowman67]

My thermometer says 28, hard rain coming down. Streets are just slushy now and still slick. My car oddly enough is thawing out too. Guess like it was said does not freeze on contact. I assume it's heated from above plus friction on the way down. Curious how this all ends up.

Waiting for a decision on tomorrow, might be game time or just a delay from a school and work standpoint.

Has to be some dynamic with the sun. I’ve experienced plenty of freezing rain and don’t remember waiting for it to freeze on surfaces like cars. Maybe it will get worse after dark.

In your experience, you've seen raindrops fall from the sky, land on a car and instantly turn to ice?

I remember experiencing this once many years ago in Missouri. The air temperature was extremely cold, but very shallow with warm air aloft. As the warm(er) rain fell through the very cold shallow air mass it would literally freeze as soon as it hit the windshield.

[Ntxw]

Don't let what you see fool ya, I have growing icycles on the metal table on the patio, trees have a glaze of ice on them, not to mention bridges and overpasses. once the temps drop a degree or 2 this evening I think the icying will rapidly intensify.

Yep the bushes, branches now have a layer and are crispy crunch. It's a slow burn like watching grass grow. More hours of this and things begin to sag.

[txtwister78]

Much of Dallas county is at 32 or just below. Temps warmer than forecast which may be a saving grace at least from something more colossal.

??? Seeing uniform 27-29 F across Dallas currently

Update from FW NWS office…bottom line : don’t let solar radiation give you a false sense of hope with this storm system

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX
104 PM CST Wed Feb 1 2023

...New Short Term...

.SHORT TERM... /NEW/
/This Afternoon through Thursday Night/

Widespread freezing rain continues this afternoon across much of
North Texas and is largely tied to increasing warm advection
around 700 mb. Most of this activity is falling out of clouds
based around 8000 ft. Beneath all of this, incoming solar
radiation and a lack of cold advection is working on some of the
ice pack on area roads and we are seeing melting despite air
temperatures in the upper 20s. While this may lead to a false
sense of relief, there is still a substantial threat for
considerable icing, especially as we head into the evening hours.
High resolution guidance and current radar trends show a large
area of precipitation extending well back to the southwest of San
Angelo. This activity will increase in coverage through the
evening and as we do lose incoming solar radiation, additional icing
will commence on trees and roads/bridges. So, we`re not done with
the ice storm just yet and we`ll leave the current warning
configuration unchanged with the greatest impacts still expected
west of I-35. We launched a balloon just a little bit ago, and
the dry layer beneath this cloud deck is in the process of
saturating and will continue to support freezing rain, especially
into the late evening hours. As the upper trough approaches later
tonight, widespread precip will begin to spread south and east as
temperatures steadily creep up to or slightly above freezing. Rain
will generally prevail across the southeast counties while some
freezing rain will continue across the northwest into early
Thursday morning. We`ll continue to go slightly cooler than
guidance for highs on Thursday as abundant cloud cover will
persist. The core of the upper trough will track right across
North Texas during the afternoon. Strong dynamic forcing and
cooling aloft will likely lead to additional precipitation,
primarily rain, although some wet slushy snow may mix in across
the northern half of the CWA.

Dunn

Also, it looks like DFW airport station has dropped back down after hitting 30F. However, with no CAA, ultimately, the latent heat process associated with precipitation will win out, and temps will bump above freezing. When will that happen, and how much damage will there be before that happens? That's the question.

Agreed. You can already see some 32 temp observation sites further north and south surrounding DFW. Good sign despite ongoing precip.

[Ntxw]

Has to be some dynamic with the sun. I’ve experienced plenty of freezing rain and don’t remember waiting for it to freeze on surfaces like cars. Maybe it will get worse after dark.

In your experience, you've seen raindrops fall from the sky, land on a car and instantly turn to ice?

I remember experiencing this once many years ago in Missouri. The air temperature was extremely cold, but very shallow with warm air aloft. As the warm(er) rain fell through the very cold shallow air mass it would literally freeze as soon as it hit the windshield.

Must have been lower than 0 or that was a thicker cold layer. Most freezers at 0F still takes time to freeze water to ice. If you've ever made ice cubes.

[JDawg512]

Okay good news is temp has risen to 34 here and can see the ice melting so good news. Will be curious how much will melt before it gets dark.

Numerous tree limbs down in my neighborhood. Several large limbs down in my backyard, damaging a part of my fence. An entire tree fell down the street from my house, blocking my way out that way. Was hoping it would get to 33 at least to rid the trees of some of the load. It's still 28 at my house.

This event can't end soon enough!

Well I think its just the light rain not necessarily full on melting and I got bundled up to look at my thermometer outside and it shows it at 32 still so was probably premature me saying its definitely melting. Was just hoping this was finally done.... Too much damage already.

[dpep4]

Power outages in Texas now over 300,000, 24% of Travis County, TX is without power

Austin is like San Antonio, where the city owns the power company, so potentially more subject to NIMBY politics. I checked a couple of foofoo neighborhoods and sure enough the tree growth was allowed way too close to the powerlines. Technically they may have been trimmed a bit so as to not touch, but pretty much the minimal. Plenty of instances of taller, large trees very close and within falling distance onto the upper power lines or poles, the lower other types of lines strung right through the middle of trees. Even if those lowers were designed to break away, they can still weaken/help cause a pole to drop when it's weighted down by ice on the power lines.

Looks like another "Don't you dare touch mah beautiful trees!" NIMBYhood:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3578905,-97.7626412,3a,73.1y,108.28h,100.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7SdK4EfZbXFJppb8v-bhSw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3580691,-97.7631002,3a,37.1y,86.32h,95.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUpEpLKjTI6qj-IGQSbQ04Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

DFW and Houston typically are trimmed further back. Then again, some consider DFW and Houston uglier because of that, so tradeoffs, I guess.

Anyway, down in NW SA we have another 24 hours of worrying about similar tree overgrowth knocking out power. The airport has been slipping back and forth between 33 and 34 (very slightly below projected), Boerne stays at 30, and it seems to be back at or below freezing where I'm at in between. Can't really see any melting of icicles, the earlier drips seemed to be more runoff from the drizzle/sprinkles. The longer the weight of ice remains, the greater the chance of more limbs breaking, especially since there's still some wind.

Surface roads appear fine for now, and the car windows have melted off (I'd guess the sun probably heated the interior enough to speed that up).

The Charlie Brown Christmas regrowth palm tree looks extra Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

[JDawg512]

Power outages in Texas now over 300,000, 24% of Travis County, TX is without power

Austin is like San Antonio, where the city owns the power company, so potentially more subject to NIMBY politics. I checked a couple of foofoo neighborhoods and sure enough the tree growth was allowed way too close to the powerlines. Technically they may have been trimmed a bit so as to not touch, but pretty much the minimal. Plenty of instances of taller, large trees very close and within falling distance onto the upper power lines or poles, the lower other types of lines strung right through the middle of trees. Even if those lowers were designed to break away, they can still weaken/help cause a pole to drop when it's weighted down by ice on the power lines.

Looks like another "Don't you dare touch mah beautiful trees!" NIMBYhood:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3578905,-97.7626412,3a,73.1y,108.28h,100.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7SdK4EfZbXFJppb8v-bhSw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3580691,-97.7631002,3a,37.1y,86.32h,95.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUpEpLKjTI6qj-IGQSbQ04Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

DFW and Houston typically are trimmed further back. Then again, some consider DFW and Houston uglier because of that, so tradeoffs, I guess.

Anyway, down in NW SA we have another 24 hours of worrying about similar tree overgrowth knocking out power. The airport has been slipping back and forth between 33 and 34 (very slightly below projected), Boerne stays at 30, and it seems to be back at or below freezing where I'm at in between. Can't really see any melting of icicles, the earlier drips seemed to be more runoff from the drizzle/sprinkles. The longer the weight of ice remains, the greater the chance of more limbs breaking, especially since there's still some wind.

Surface roads appear fine for now, and the car windows have melted off (I'd guess the sun probably heated the interior enough to speed that up).

The Charlie Brown Christmas regrowth palm tree looks extra Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

I don't necessarily agree with your comment. Nor do I think its appropriate to call our neighborhoods foofoo. Leave all that crap at the door because this is a weather forum. We are proud that Austin has one of the best urban forests in the nation and while my area is heavily wooded, we still have power here.

[Iceresistance]

Power outages in Texas now over 300,000, 24% of Travis County, TX is without power

Austin is like San Antonio, where the city owns the power company, so potentially more subject to NIMBY politics. I checked a couple of foofoo neighborhoods and sure enough the tree growth was allowed way too close to the powerlines. Technically they may have been trimmed a bit so as to not touch, but pretty much the minimal. Plenty of instances of taller, large trees very close and within falling distance onto the upper power lines or poles, the lower other types of lines strung right through the middle of trees. Even if those lowers were designed to break away, they can still weaken/help cause a pole to drop when it's weighted down by ice on the power lines.

Looks like another "Don't you dare touch mah beautiful trees!" NIMBYhood:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3578905,-97.7626412,3a,73.1y,108.28h,100.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7SdK4EfZbXFJppb8v-bhSw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3580691,-97.7631002,3a,37.1y,86.32h,95.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUpEpLKjTI6qj-IGQSbQ04Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

DFW and Houston typically are trimmed further back. Then again, some consider DFW and Houston uglier because of that, so tradeoffs, I guess.

Anyway, down in NW SA we have another 24 hours of worrying about similar tree overgrowth knocking out power. The airport has been slipping back and forth between 33 and 34 (very slightly below projected), Boerne stays at 30, and it seems to be back at or below freezing where I'm at in between. Can't really see any melting of icicles, the earlier drips seemed to be more runoff from the drizzle/sprinkles. The longer the weight of ice remains, the greater the chance of more limbs breaking, especially since there's still some wind.

Surface roads appear fine for now, and the car windows have melted off (I'd guess the sun probably heated the interior enough to speed that up).

The Charlie Brown Christmas regrowth palm tree looks extra Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

All of our trees in my county were trimmed back from the power lines in the past 5 years, they became afraid of a crippling Ice Storm would happen.

(Also, don't bring in nasty stuff or call out other places for stupid reasons.)

[Ntxw]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

[utpmg]

I thought I had made a post a while ago but I guess it got et, or I et it.
Anyway, my house is a mess; two huge (70') elms pretty badly topped now; looks like a tornado went through; last limb that fell cracked a window (although I'm already getting new ones so nbd.) Trees were American/Siberian elms that went in with the subdivision in 1956. I keep them maintained, and the city fairly recently went on a tree trimming spree to clear power lines. I should say my 65 year old neighborhood doesn't have too many power problems at this moment. My power hasn't gone out.
The limbs that have fallen near my windows, some over 12" diameter, have at least .7" of ice on them in some spots.

[dpep4]

I don't necessarily agree with your comment. Nor do I think its appropriate to call our neighborhoods foofoo. Leave all that crap at the door because this is a weather forum. We are proud that Austin has one of the best urban forests in the nation and while my area is heavily wooded, we still have power here.

While a lot (majority) of outages are from factors other than failure to properly trim, it is still a preventable weak point that has increased the number of outages. So there's a lot of people without power or (like me) at the moment still under a higher risk than necessary for losing power that are increasingly resentful of the pride over practicality crowd and their influence.

And properly trimming back vegetation from power lines and poles would be a statistically insignificant reduction in the 'urban forest'. Nice political red herring term.

I'll now drop the subject.

[bubba hotep]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

Cloud deck appears to be thickening and lowering, which, with the time of day, probably ends any help from solar. So temps will stay steady or even drop a bit overnight before bouncing back sometime during the early morning hours.

[Ntxw]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

Cloud deck appears to be thickening and lowering, which, with the time of day, probably ends any help from solar. So temps will stay steady or even drop a bit overnight before bouncing back sometime during the early morning hours.

Txtwister's map above showed it, but so does the regional mesonet. The urban center and immediate areas are coldest around NTX. How rare is that? It's a bubble, sleet/ice field feedback?

[Iceresistance]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

Cloud deck appears to be thickening and lowering, which, with the time of day, probably ends any help from solar. So temps will stay steady or even drop a bit overnight before bouncing back sometime during the early morning hours.

Txtwister's map above showed it, but so does the regional mesonet. The urban center and immediate areas are coldest around NTX. How rare is that? It's a bubble, sleet/ice field feedback?

My area is the coldest right now in the entire state of Oklahoma on OK Mesonet

[orangeblood]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

Every single model is 2-5 Deg F too warm and even from 1-2 hrs out…truly amazing persistent low level cold in the center of the state. This one can’t be modeled, assume the under

[losf1981]

A huge batch of freezing precipitation from Western Texas coming toward me, I'm watching it on the radar.


I've seen reports of over an inch of Sleet in DFW, and over .75 inch of Ice near Austin and San Antonio.

I'm in this batch and I can tell you that there is nothing going on. Very strange considering what the radar is showing. Very light rain here and there but no freezing precip of any kind.

[orangeblood]

Back on topic.

DFW has fallen between hours to 28F. Lets not lose sight of reality that it is still below freezing for millions with precip still falling.

Cloud deck appears to be thickening and lowering, which, with the time of day, probably ends any help from solar. So temps will stay steady or even drop a bit overnight before bouncing back sometime during the early morning hours.

Txtwister's map above showed it, but so does the regional mesonet. The urban center and immediate areas are coldest around NTX. How rare is that? It's a bubble, sleet/ice field feedback?

Yep, feedback from probably urban concrete covered in ice. Interesting twist to the norm