southern plains freezing rain/sleet thread

[plainsman]

ya i know northeast texas got it bad to in texarcana... if temps were in the low 30's around 31, 32 it would not have been that bad but temps were colder then expected.. in Dallas/Fort worth temps were in the low to mid 20s the whole time during which we got ( i added up from the nws) 23 hours of freezing drizzle/ mist and 9 hours of freezing rain/light freezing rain.. thats going to cause some serious problems.. everything was just frozen yesterday... u couldnt get in your without an ice scraper.... the door handles , windows everything had a lyer of ice, on the plants, weeds stopsigns... 2,000 ice related wrecks seems ridiculous ya know ...... was it that bad in texarcana?

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

The winter weather advisory used to be called a travelers advisory. Why they changed the name, I have no idea. Maybe if they changed it back to travelers advisory, the motorist that venture out on the road during icy times might be more vigilant to the icy conditions.

I think you are right. I believe they used that for foggy weather too and would note why travelers should be cautious.

[gboudx]

The winter weather advisory used to be called a travelers advisory. Why they changed the name, I have no idea. Maybe if they changed it back to travelers advisory, the motorist that venture out on the road during icy times might be more vigilant to the icy conditions.

Maybe if they worded the Winter Weather Advisory more strongly to include phrases like, "you could be killed, injured, etc." Of course, I'm kidding, but the NWS mentioned in all the advisories that motorists should use extreme caution when approaching bridges and overpasses. The local news also mentioned that motorists should use extreme caution. I don't how you can be more blunt to people. In the end, the driver has to take responsibility for their own actions. Most of the accidents could've been prevented if more care and caution was taken. But I guess some driver's got a false sense of security since only the bridges and overpasses had ice. The roads were clear and not frozen over.

[southerngale]

and as for jenny, i dont know what youre problem was trying to convince yourself nothing happened in DFW from this storm... go ahead and believe if you want to ya know... 1100 ice/freezing rain related wrecks are alot.. i dont why u came on this thread over and over trying to saying theres nothing going on in DFW trolling the southern plains board, just being a troll.... just because Atlanta missed out on another winter event doesnt mean you have to ruin other peoples winter storms.. theyll be other chances for the northern part of the southeast.. im sure an alberta clipper will dip in the northern southeast in early march and bring winter precip to atlanta and charlotte.. 1 of those alberta clippers will bring winter weather in the northern southeast in late february/early march.. it happens just about every yr.. at least light winter precip... and there is about 1100 ft. elevation in parts of west fort worth jenny around weatherford and mineral wells not all parts of DFW are that high though... and gboudx when you were saying you havnt seen a severe ice storm like the one in 2000 in the southeast, you must have not lived in Dallas/fort worth that long huh? .. i have... new yrs eve in 2002 was just as bad and in 1993 i think the worst ice storm to hit Dallas hit that yr on thanksgiving... it froze all of the roads over.. i remember i was ice skating and playing ice hockey in the streets of my neighborhood...

JenyEliza is not a troll. There's been enough of all this bickering and comments like this. Keep it off the board!!!

[southerngale]

its hard to measure freezing drizzle, and i bet the totals were more then .25 for this storm ya know... are you saying 1,100 ice related wrecks in DFW warrants what they put out? whats an ice storm warning then 10,000 wrecks??? u cant base a storm by what kind of warning they put out ya know!... theres way more wrecks and deaths in DFW now then back on Dec, 7th when they put out a winter storm warning.. roads are much more treacherous this time! and theres way more wrecks! with this then on dec.7th when they put out a winter storm warning partly because it was half ice, half snow on Dec.7th and not all freezing rain....

They don't issue advisories, warnings, etc, based on the number of accidents that WILL occur because people drive when they shouldn't. They're not mind-readers and there's no point in issuing them after they see how many accidents they've caused.

Per the NWS:

Ice Storm
An ice storm is used to describe occasions when damaging accumulations of ice are expected during freezing rain situations. Significant accumulations of ice pull down trees and utility lines resulting in loss of power and communication. These accumulations of ice make walking and driving extremely dangerous. Significant ice accumulations are usually accumulations of ¼" or greater.

Winter Weather Advisories inform you that winter weather conditions are expected to cause significant inconveniences that may be hazardous. If caution is exercised, advisory situations should not become life-threatening.

[JenyEliza]

and as for jenny, i dont know what youre problem was trying to convince yourself nothing happened in DFW from this storm... go ahead and believe if you want to ya know... 1100 ice/freezing rain related wrecks are alot.. i dont why u came on this thread over and over trying to saying theres nothing going on in DFW trolling the southern plains board, just being a troll.... just because Atlanta missed out on another winter event doesnt mean you have to ruin other peoples winter storms.. theyll be other chances for the northern part of the southeast.. im sure an alberta clipper will dip in the northern southeast in early march and bring winter precip to atlanta and charlotte.. 1 of those alberta clippers will bring winter weather in the northern southeast in late february/early march.. it happens just about every yr.. at least light winter precip... and there is about 1100 ft. elevation in parts of west fort worth jenny around weatherford and mineral wells not all parts of DFW are that high though... and gboudx when you were saying you havnt seen a severe ice storm like the one in 2000 in the southeast, you must have not lived in Dallas/fort worth that long huh? .. i have... new yrs eve in 2002 was just as bad and in 1993 i think the worst ice storm to hit Dallas hit that yr on thanksgiving... it froze all of the roads over.. i remember i was ice skating and playing ice hockey in the streets of my neighborhood...

JenyEliza is not a troll. There's been enough of all this bickering and comments like this. Keep it off the board!!!

Thank you.

[southerngale]

Here's another example of an ice storm. If you want more information on it, just Google January 1997 Ice Storm Beaumont Texas or something like that. SW La. was affected as well.

I posted this in another thread a little while ago as a response to someone else about staying below freezing for days in SE Tx.

And more recently in January 1997, over here in Beaumont and even closer to the coast in Nederland and Port Arthur, we were below freezing for several days and without power for nearly a week due to the only real Ice Storm I've ever seen. I stayed bundled up like crazy. You couldn't shower. You practically froze to death just trying to go to the bathroom!
The only heat we had in my rented house was a small grill. We'd fire it up outside and try to thaw out our hands a little while cooking some of the food that lay in the opened freezer door. I remember feeling like my feet were going to just break off...man, was it miserable!!

1/4 inch of ice was on some surfaces and 1 inch on others. The effects of the storm were quite devastating, something you don't really expect way down here in the winter. Several million dollars in damage.

My parents had a fireplace at the time, but I couldn't drive to get there, or anywhere for that matter. Everyone was just stuck. Anyway, it wouldn't be quite as bad for me now, since I do have a fireplace. At least I'd have some heat! That was a miserable time...I'm glad we didn't get anything close to that.

And this was posted last month when people were talking about an Arctic outbreak reaching South and Southeast Texas.

Now this is extreme for Southeast Texas.

January 1997 Ice Storm - below freezing for several days - almost everyone was without power...for nearly a week. I didn't have a fireplace at the time and I can remember wearing a bunch of socks and shoes and my feet were still frozen. I was with a couple of friends and we bundled up the best we could trying to stay warm. We had a grill so we were able to cook and get a little heat from that occasionally. lol
We had meat...just opened the freezer and it all stayed fresh. You would constantly hear the snapping sound of branches falling everywhere. As more branches fell, more people lost power.

Excuse the bad pics...they were scanned on my mediocre scanner.

[JenyEliza]

Yes, southerngale, *that* is a REAL ice storm.

That is *not* what DFW experienced this weekend. NOT EVEN CLOSE. And that was my point in my responses here to plainsman.

What happened in DFW was simply a minor winter weather event, and the good people in the DFW area simply didn't heed the NWS advisories to stay off the roads due to minor patches of ice and slick spots in a few places.

Thanks for posting your pictures and experience. Ice storms, REAL ice storms, are NO FUN AT ALL.

Jen

[txtwister]

Yes, southerngale, *that* is a REAL ice storm.

That is *not* what DFW experienced this weekend. NOT EVEN CLOSE. And that was my point in my responses here to plainsman.

What happened in DFW was simply a minor winter weather event, and the good people in the DFW area simply didn't heed the NWS advisories to stay off the roads due to minor patches of ice and slick spots in a few places.

Thanks for posting your pictures and experience. Ice storms, REAL ice storms, are NO FUN AT ALL.

Jen

Hi - Speaking from the observation of someone who lives in DFW ( a northeast suburb) I have to agree. We had not problems with cars being 'iced' over or any of the other issues that others in DFW have had. We got lucky and we dodged a bullet. The high number if car crashes came from folks being plain ole silly. Was there ice on the overpasses? Yes, some of them, but they were sanded by TXDOT. But, there is always the driver who think that they can handle it and drives too darn fast and then brakes when they hit a slick patch. We were out and about on Saturday and most of Sunday and had no issues. Everywhere we went there were others out and about, so I do not think the weather caused too much of an issue for most of the area that we live in which includes Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Richardson and Allen. We dodged a bullet with this event, IMO.

[plainsman]

i still sense alot of jealousy from you jenny because atlanta missed out on another winter event and problably will not get one till next yr... winter is over for the most part.. and yes the cities of dallas,fort worth did get a decent winter storm and yes the northern suberbs got gyped and saw a minor to decent, winter storm..... had the temps been in the low 30s then yes it would have been a minor event but the temps were in the low to mid 20s for Dallas and Fort Worth and the wintry precipitation froze more! so it was a decent winter storm for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth!.. plano, richardson, frisco, those are all the northern suberbs of Dallas!!! heck plano and frisco are in collin and denton county and the northern suberbs got gyped from this and did not get it as bad as the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth!!!! ive been saying all along the northern suberbs did not get it near as bad.. yes 20-30 hrs. of freezing drizzle and 10 hrs. of freezing rain is not a minor even... and whos someone from southeast texas to show me what an ice storm looks like? southeast texas gets a winter event once every 3 yrs if their lucky and a freak storm every 25 years... ive seen plenty of ice storms in the long time ive lived in North Texas, 2,000 wrecks due to ice is not a minor event ... it wasnt all freezing drizzle either.. i counted on the NWS Dallas saw 11 hours of freezing rain and 23 hrs. of freezing drizzle/mist from this and yes it was decent winter storm at least in the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth that is......

[JenyEliza]

i still sense alot of jealousy from you jenny because atlanta missed out on another winter event and problably will not get one till next yr... winter is over for the most part.. and yes the cities of dallas,fort worth did get a decent winter storm and yes the northern suberbs got gyped and saw a minor to decent, winter storm..... had the temps been in the low 30s then yes it would have been a minor event but the temps were in the low to mid 20s for Dallas and Fort Worth and the wintry precipitation froze more! so it was a decent winter storm for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth!.. plano, richardson, frisco, those are all the northern suberbs of Dallas!!! heck plano and frisco are in collin and denton county and the northern suberbs got gyped from this and did not get it as bad as the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth!!!! ive been saying all along the northern suberbs did not get it near as bad.. yes 20-30 hrs. of freezing drizzle and 10 hrs. of freezing rain is not a minor even... and whos someone from southeast texas to show me what an ice storm looks like? southeast texas gets a winter event once every 3 yrs if their lucky and a freak storm every 25 years... ive seen plenty of ice storms in the long time ive lived in North Texas, 2,000 wrecks due to ice is not a minor event ... it wasnt all freezing drizzle either.. i counted on the NWS Dallas saw 11 hours of freezing rain and 23 hrs. of freezing drizzle/mist from this and yes it was decent winter storm at least in the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth that is......

You sense wrong, hun. One day, you'll figure that out.

BTW...paragraphs are our friends. So are complete sentences and punctuation. Do they not teach that in school anymore?

[jasons2k]

I really don't want to add fuel to this fire....but here it goes anyway.

I lived in DFW from 1988 until 2005, excluding a hiatus to Alabama for 8 months, college in Lubbock (but I was home most weekends/summer/holidays), and some consulting work down here in Houston. But by-and-large, I've been there for every winter event.

This was a MINOR icing event for DFW, regardless of the accident count. In fact, most of ALL the events for the last 20+ years or so were minor. The Metroplex hasn't seen a real old-fashioned ice storm in a long time. If you want to see what a *real* ice storm looks like, dig up some pictures from 1978.

And the pictures posted by Southerngale are worse than ANY ice storm I have seen in DFW in the time I lived there. It doesn't matter that they are from Beaumont. I have pictures of almost 2 feet of snow in Alabama in 1993 that would do justice to some of the great blizzards in New England. 1/2" of ice is ice, no matter where it is.

[ETXHAMXYL]

Hey let's be nice OK? Some posts on this thread remind me of another board full of people who just want to argue and bicker instead of discussing the weather.
Jeny your remark about paragraghs being our friend was uncalled for and very rude.
This little or big storm depending on your perspective is over now, so lets move on to what is ahead...probably more rain but HeY we need it frozen or not.
So let's POST NICE in the upcoming threads OK?

[plainsman]

ive said all along.. it was a decent winter ice storm for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and a minor winter ice storm for the northern suburbs, plano frisco, richardson, denton etc.... just like when South Texas had that big snow storm in christmas 2004, for houston it was minor, they only got a few inches 1 or 2 inches of snow while in the southern suberbs, corpus christi and victoria they had like a foot... with winter storms things happen like that in Texas... notice all the major wrecks and the deaths were in the cities of DFW and the road closings during this ice storm were in the cities of DFW and all posts on here saying this was a minor were from people who lived in the northern suberbs of DFW and all reports of accidents were from in the cities!.. very few from the northern suberbs, most of the ice was from the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth.. put 2 and 2 together jenny! maybe you should try going back to school.... this was a decent ice storm for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth!

[plainsman]

on Thanksgiving 1993 Dallas had an Icestorm that could outdo any north georgia or southeast texas icestorm.. roads were completely frozen over for like 2-3 days.. and im talking the neighborhood roads.. i remember playing ice hockey on the neighborhood roads and ice skating on the neighborhood roads.. i doubt any icestorm in north georgia have ever froze the roads over solid like that, especially the neighborhood roads .....

[gboudx]

This thread has gone from informative and useful to being a steaming pile of crud. Can a Moderator lock it? I think it's done.

[Skywatch_NC]

This thread has gone from informative and useful to being a steaming pile of crud. Can a Moderator lock it? I think it's done.

I agree...has turned into a Romper Room/Kindergarten atmosphere.

[jasons2k]

Even 1993 was run-of-the-mill. If was a truly bad one we wouldn't have seen Leon Lett's famous dive on TV that day I was there. There was a thin layer of ice but mostly sleet on top.

And I'm sure if you did some research you would find some comparitive storms that have impacted N. Georgia. The "wedge" setup there can be perfect for ICE. The "Ice Belt" runs roughly along I-20.

[CaptinCrunch]

i still sense alot of jealousy from you jenny because atlanta missed out on another winter event and problably will not get one till next yr... winter is over for the most part.. and yes the cities of dallas,fort worth did get a decent winter storm and yes the northern suberbs got gyped and saw a minor to decent, winter storm..... had the temps been in the low 30s then yes it would have been a minor event but the temps were in the low to mid 20s for Dallas and Fort Worth and the wintry precipitation froze more! so it was a decent winter storm for the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth!.. plano, richardson, frisco, those are all the northern suberbs of Dallas!!! heck plano and frisco are in collin and denton county and the northern suberbs got gyped from this and did not get it as bad as the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth!!!! ive been saying all along the northern suberbs did not get it near as bad.. yes 20-30 hrs. of freezing drizzle and 10 hrs. of freezing rain is not a minor even... and whos someone from southeast texas to show me what an ice storm looks like? southeast texas gets a winter event once every 3 yrs if their lucky and a freak storm every 25 years... ive seen plenty of ice storms in the long time ive lived in North Texas, 2,000 wrecks due to ice is not a minor event ... it wasnt all freezing drizzle either.. i counted on the NWS Dallas saw 11 hours of freezing rain and 23 hrs. of freezing drizzle/mist from this and yes it was decent winter storm at least in the cites of Dallas and Fort Worth that is......

The only Winter event we here in NTX had this past weekend was sub-freezing temps with light freezing drizzle, I was out both Saturday and Sunday afternoon and most all streets were fine, bridges and overpasses were well sanded with only a few slick spots.

Most wrecks were caused by people driving to fast, not heeding the weather advisory, or not paying attention.

We has NO ice on trees, power lines, or rooftops, only cars with a light coating which I found no worse than a heavy frost to scrap off.

[Brent]

on Thanksgiving 1993 Dallas had an Icestorm that could outdo any north georgia or southeast texas icestorm.. roads were completely frozen over for like 2-3 days.. and im talking the neighborhood roads.. i remember playing ice hockey on the neighborhood roads and ice skating on the neighborhood roads.. i doubt any icestorm in north georgia have ever froze the roads over solid like that, especially the neighborhood roads .....

You've obviously never experienced a North Georgia ice storm.

I think the ONLY place that gets an ice storm worse would be up in North Carolina.