Texas Winter 2013-2014

[DFW Stormwatcher]

27 in Baton Rouge with freezing drizzle. That is a horrible temp to have freezing drizzle as it really causes quick problems on the roadways. Thank goodness the precip is light. Now I wonder if we will get above freezing today.

Much of I-10 is closed including ALL ways of crossing the MS River.

Add half an inch of freezing rain, 3 inches of sleet coupled with 4 days below freezing. That's what we got on the north side of the metroplex in December, a complete nightmare. I don't envy you guys, glad it went south of us, course in this case we would have most likely only received snow if there was any moisture in the atmosphere, nevertheless.

Houston is shut down with a glaze of ice. Now I know how yankees must feel, lol. Never missed a day of work and I couldn't even see the road north of Frisco for five days, and somehow Denton was worse. Sleet is easier to drive in than straight ice though, until the sleet buildup freezes over, then it becomes almost impassable without chains.

[TeamPlayersBlue]

31.6 here and starting to melt on the roof and cars. Well ice, its been real....thanks for staying till noon this time.


SEE YOUR COUSIN, SNOW, ON TUESDAY

[dhweather]

Might be interesting next Tuesday in Lake Charles.

[Red Raider fan]

Does anybody have any idea what the weather will be like next week? All I see is cold with no precipitation.

[davidiowx]

SEE YOUR COUSIN, SNOW, ON TUESDAY

Man we can only hope! Hopefully the models keep trending in our favor like the storm we just encountered did.

[TheProfessor]

I hope that the models will trend towards snow for North Texas.

[ronyan]

The 12z Euro is dry for TX next week, but very cold as it pushes the 850mb 0C line into Mexico and the -10C line SOUTH of New Orleans @120 hr!

Not sure how to view 2m temps from the Euro but the 850 level is impressive.

[South Texas Storms]

I still can't believe A&M only cancelled classes until 10 am today. I had class at 10:20 am and the sidewalks were still icy as several people were slipping while walking on them. They should've cancelled all classes today.

[Tireman4]

I still can't believe A&M only cancelled classes until 10 am today. I had class at 10:20 am and the sidewalks were still icy as several people were slipping while walking on them. They should've cancelled all classes today.

How many folks showed up?

[somethingfunny]

I still can't believe A&M only cancelled classes until 10 am today. I had class at 10:20 am and the sidewalks were still icy as several people were slipping while walking on them. They should've cancelled all classes today.

Here, have an old school Weather Channel commercial.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zREwdYvd75s[/youtube]

[TheProfessor]

Still only 32 degrees here. What happened? Are high was supposed be 43 degrees. Unless are temperature rises another 7 degrees in the next 2 and a half hours, than I don't think we will make it out of the 30s .

[Portastorm]

I still can't believe A&M only cancelled classes until 10 am today. I had class at 10:20 am and the sidewalks were still icy as several people were slipping while walking on them. They should've cancelled all classes today.

Yes they should have and let's hope no one got hurt on campus.

(Rant mode ... sorry if I piss anyone off) Conversely, those of us who have to make decisions about whether schools/businesses remain open or closed are subject to criticism constantly. Today in Austin, there's a lot of people hooting and hollering about how "dumb" it was that schools/state agencies/local government were closed and how the event was no big deal. It's very frustrating. These myopic people look out their door, don't see much snow or ice, and think "oh, this isn't bad at all." Of course they don't realize that 10x the number of normal accidents had occurred in less than 24 hours. That's right Austinites, over 200 accidents since 5 p.m. yesterday. What caused that if this was no big deal? Moon too bright? Earthquakes? Alien death ray?! You tell me. And why would law enforcement officials be literally begging people to stay off the roads if this was no big deal? Gee ... I don't know ... maybe it's the fact that they had to risk their lives to help people like You (Mr. or Mrs. This is No Biggie) because you drove somewhere you didn't need to.

I was up at 4 this morning monitoring law enforcement, NWS, and media to decide if my agency was going to be open or closed. We have hundreds of lives at stake in making these decisions. And those judgment calls are mirrored across many government entities and businesses. And trust me, the very first time someone like us takes the attitude of "oh, it's not bad. We're not closing" ... there will be an accident and/or a death. Litigation will ensue. And the people who decided to keep the business or government agency open will be crucified in court for making such a terrible decision.

(Rant mode off)

[BigB0882]

Very good points, Portastorm!

[wxman57]

Just got home 30 min ago. They wouldn't let our plane leave the gate because it was sleeting a little and 34F. Sat there 90 min then pushed off. There are icicles hanging from my roof. Time to crank up the Texas thermostat for the weekend...

[Portastorm]

Just got home 30 min ago. They wouldn't let our plane leave the gate because it was sleeting a little and 34F. Sat there 90 min then pushed off. There are icicles hanging from my roof. Time to crank up the Texas thermostat for the weekend...

Oh shoot ... there goes the neighborhood!

No, all kidding aside, glad you made it home safely. Feel free to turn that thermostat back over to me next week.

[somethingfunny]

I still can't believe A&M only cancelled classes until 10 am today. I had class at 10:20 am and the sidewalks were still icy as several people were slipping while walking on them. They should've cancelled all classes today.

Yes they should have and let's hope no one got hurt on campus.

(Rant mode ... sorry if I piss anyone off) Conversely, those of us who have to make decisions about whether schools/businesses remain open or closed are subject to criticism constantly. Today in Austin, there's a lot of people hooting and hollering about how "dumb" it was that schools/state agencies/local government were closed and how the event was no big deal. It's very frustrating. These myopic people look out their door, don't see much snow or ice, and think "oh, this isn't bad at all." Of course they don't realize that 10x the number of normal accidents had occurred in less than 24 hours. That's right Austinites, over 200 accidents since 5 p.m. yesterday. What caused that if this was no big deal? Moon too bright? Earthquakes? Alien death ray?! You tell me. And why would law enforcement officials be literally begging people to stay off the roads if this was no big deal? Gee ... I don't know ... maybe it's the fact that they had to risk their lives to help people like You (Mr. or Mrs. This is No Biggie) because you drove somewhere you didn't need to.

I was up at 4 this morning monitoring law enforcement, NWS, and media to decide if my agency was going to be open or closed. We have hundreds of lives at stake in making these decisions. And those judgment calls are mirrored across many government entities and businesses. And trust me, the very first time someone like us takes the attitude of "oh, it's not bad. We're not closing" ... there will be an accident and/or a death. Litigation will ensue. And the people who decided to keep the business or government agency open will be crucified in court for making such a terrible decision.

(Rant mode off)

I suspect all of the people hooting and roaring about this being "no big deal" are from or at least spent several adult years living in a snowy climate. I'm one of those people frankly and I do go out and drive in most icy conditions, but I understand why Texas largely shuts down during winter storms. It might not be a really big deal for me, but it is a really big deal for my neighbors and coworkers. Like you said, 10x the number of accidents is definitely a big deal.

Regarding Texas A&M, not that slipping and falling on a sidewalk isn't a big deal (I've seen people get injured doing that and it's ridiculous that the campus didn't have salt down if they planned to be open) but I worry more about the students who drive to campus. I don't know who makes the decision to close or delay or open at A&M, but I know the university's interim president spent a number of years at the University of Illinois and might be in that "what's the big deal?" camp of people who are just used to conducting business as usual during wintry weather.

By the way - CONGRATULATIONS SOUTH TEXANS!!!! Y'all deserve to get some white stuff after so many misses.

[South Texas Storms]

Yeah sf, there were several roads near campus that were still icy according to some of my professors and fellow students. I heard one of my classmates say that there were several accidents on one of the main roads here in College Station this morning due to ice. In my opinion, not a smart idea to have students driving to campus in those hazardous road conditions.


Besides that, it was so nice to see sleet and snow accumulations again! I haven't had a winter weather event since February 2011, so I really enjoyed going outside in the sleet/snow mix last night

Hopefully we can all get at least one more wintry precip event before winter ends!

[rearview]

I work at Texas A&M and between driving all over town to take kids to school (which started 2 hours late.. 10ish) and then getting to campus I can say that roads by 9:30 were mostly clear, though there was ice on the pavement on the shoulders, curbs, and center stripes in places. Bridges were sanded, but slippery. There were several big accidents before 10am.

It looks like Texas A&M did no sidewalk sanding/salting/scraping whatsoever. The only thing I saw them do was close off the roofs of the parking garages. Good thing as they were frozen solid.

Noon would have been a better start time today. It didn't get above freezing until around then and there has been no sun. There was still a little ice on the sidewalks at 1pm.

[Portastorm]

I work at Texas A&M and between driving all over town to take kids to school (which started 2 hours late.. 10ish) and then getting to campus I can say that roads by 9:30 were mostly clear, though there was ice on the pavement on the shoulders, curbs, and center stripes in places. Bridges were sanded, but slippery. There were several big accidents before 10am.

It looks like Texas A&M did no sidewalk sanding/salting/scraping whatsoever. The only thing I saw them do was close off the roofs of the parking garages. Good thing as they were frozen solid.

Noon would have been a better start time today. It didn't get above freezing until around then and there has been no sun. There was still a little ice on the sidewalks at 1pm.

Am I the only one who sees the irony here in that the Aggies have the best meteorology school in the state and perhaps region of the US. If anyone should have been weather-savvy, I would think it would be Texas A&M. Then again for all we know, the guys and gals in the met school may have been advising closing until noon and were overruled.

[Portastorm]

Meanwhile, I just ran across a very good read on the WSI website by private sector met Mike Ventrice. Some of this is very technical but if it doesn't get most of you (outside of wxman57) excited, then I don't know what will.

http://www.wsi.com/blog/energy/sub-seasonal-u-s-temperature-outlook-bitter-cold-weather-is-anticipated-to-continue-through-the-end-of-february/