Much of Dallas-fort Worth without power amid record low temps
FORT WORTH – Hundreds of thousands of Dallas-fort Worth residents were without power Tuesday morning as record low temperatures bore down on the region and more winter weather loomed on the horizon.
Road conditions were also dangerous in many spots across North
Texas, with the frigid temperatures freezing over precipitation from the weekend.
The temperature was hovering around -1 Tuesday morning, breaking the previous record low of 12 set in 1903, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
As of 8:30 a.m., around 322,000 Oncor customers in Tarrant County and 277,000 in Dallas County were without power, according to the company’s outage map. Estimated restoration times weren’t known on Tuesday morning.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas declared the state was at its highest energy emergency level on Monday and began rotating power outages across the state. Many people, beginning Monday and continuing Tuesday morning, have taken to social media to say they have been without power for several consecutive hours.
Medstar had 570 ambulance responses over 24 hours Monday, with 82 responses related to power and 44 for hypothermia, spokesman Matt Zavadsky said. That’s the most ambulance responses within 24 hours since 2011.
Wind chill and hard freeze warnings were in effect for North Texas through noon Tuesday, with possible wind chills as low as 15 below zero. The extreme cold can become life-threatening with prolonged time spent outdoors, and can severely damage pipes that aren’t properly insulated, according to the weather service.
David Bonnette, a meteorologist with the weather service, said before 8 a.m. on Tuesday that the wind had “backed off a good bit” and the wind chill was about the same as the temperature in the air. But with temperatures around 0, DFW residents are still dealing with dangerous cold they may not be used to, Bonnette said.
Additionally, he noted, the sun began to melt some snow on Monday, and in the overnight hours those spots turned into a glaze of ice.
“Especially on area side roads and side streets and things like that, there’s actually a lot of black ice that’s out there so roads are slick,” Bonnette said over the phone. “On my experience, driving in this morning, the roads are worse in spots than they were yesterday.”
He also warned that, in terms of winter weather, “when it rains it pours.”
“Or in this case, when it snows it snows more,” Bonnette said.
A winter storm system is expected to move into DFW between 6 and 9 Tuesday evening, initially bringing a mix of sleet and snow, Bonnette said. That should transition into only snow overnight, he said, dropping around 1 to 2 inches by the morning, which will accumulate on top of snow and ice already on the ground.
Area farther north of DFW are expected to see more snow and areas farther south could see more ice and freezing rain, Bonnette said. DFW is kind of on the “dividing line,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re gonna get a lot of snow and I don’t think we’re gonna get a lot of ice but there’s a chance we get a good bit of all three – of freezing rain, sleet and snow,” Bonnette said.
A winter storm warning for North Texas will go into effect at 6 p.m. Tuesday and last through 6 a.m. Thursday, with possible impacts including dangerous road conditions and additional power outages.
The high was expected to be around 21 on Tuesday, according to the weather service. Highs are expected to be in the 20s on Wednesday and Thursday, before a high of around 36 on Friday and 48 on Saturday.
It’s expected to reach 58 on Sunday and Monday.