A severe ice storm that has affected parts of the South has been linked to three deaths on the roads and has contributed to nearly 2,000 flight cancellations, officials reported on Tuesday.
By early evening, the storm had extended from the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area to Memphis, Tennessee, prompting officials in both cities to advise motorists to stay off the roads through Thursday, if possible, until the storm passes.
The storm has been associated with three fatalities:
– A 45-year-old man lost control of his 1997 Toyota 4Runner on an ice-covered overpass in Arlington, Texas, on Monday and was ejected from the vehicle, according to police. He later died at a hospital.
– On Monday night, a 49-year-old woman, identified as Sherry Lynn Taylor, was killed when her 1997 Chevrolet Silverado struck a tree near Eldorado, Texas. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported that she lost control of the truck on icy roads and skidded.
– In Austin, one person died following a weather-related multi-vehicle collision, according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
“Pretty much all of the collisions that we are responding to right now are weather-related,” an Emergency Medical Services spokesperson said. “Basically, all of the high roadways and overpasses in the Austin and Travis County area are iced over.”
Dallas-Fort Worth set a daily record for snow accumulation on Tuesday, with 1.3 inches of precipitation measured near the main airport. The record was achieved with sleet, not snow, surpassing the previous record of 1.2 inches of snow recorded on January 31, 1985.
The adverse weather conditions severely impacted air travel. National carriers based in the region reported hundreds of cancellations, with American Airlines canceling 591 flights related to its base at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Southwest Airlines canceling 287 flights related to Dallas Love Field, according to FlightAware.
In total, 1,035 cancellations were reported at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Nationwide, 1,961 domestic and international flights had been canceled by the evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned that freezing rain and ice might continue to delay flights at Dallas-Fort Worth and Memphis airports.
As temperatures lingered in the 20s in parts of Texas on Tuesday evening, around 23,000 utility customers in the state were without power, according to the energy grid tracker PowerOutage.us.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated at a news conference that while some local outages were anticipated, major issues with the power grid were not expected.
The National Weather Service described the ice storm as “prolonged and significant,” predicting it would “continue impacting a large area from the southern Plains to the Tennessee Valley.”
The agency indicated that the “dangerous” storm is expected to last at least until early Thursday, bringing cold air, freezing rain, and sleet, along with travel disruptions and delays.
“Widespread total ice accretion of greater than 0.25 inches is likely from West Texas to western Tennessee, with localized areas receiving up to 0.75 inches,” the weather service said. This amount of ice could lead to hazardous travel conditions, tree damage, and scattered power outages in the hardest-hit areas.
Sleet accumulations of around half an inch or more are also possible from West Texas to Arkansas, which could result in “treacherous” travel conditions.
“Patchy areas of sleet and freezing drizzle continue to move through North and Central Texas this afternoon,” the weather service’s office in Fort Worth tweeted on Tuesday evening. “It is advised to stay off the roads during this event as conditions worsen.”
The National Weather Service office covering the Memphis area reported that “a thick glaze of ice” had covered both streets and vegetation in Bartlett, Tennessee, by Tuesday afternoon.
Ice storm warnings, winter storm warnings, and winter weather advisories have been issued in the affected areas, with travelers advised to check road conditions before traveling and to drive with extreme caution.
Governor Abbott also warned that central, east, and southeast Texas could experience flash flooding on Wednesday and Thursday. He urged residents to avoid driving due to hazardous icing, noting that about 1,600 roads in the state have been affected.
“Because of the icing, many roads in Texas will remain very dangerous for the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said. “Be cautious, especially for things like black ice.”
In Fort Worth, the ambulance service MedStar responded to 151 motor vehicle crashes within 34 hours of the winter storm, according to spokesperson Matt Zavadsky. Nineteen of these were rollovers.
MedStar also treated 13 patients for hypothermia, with twelve being hospitalized, seven in serious condition. Additionally, eleven patients were injured from slipping on ice.
The storm, which moved in from the Pacific over the weekend, is heading northeast, producing a line of ice-cold precipitation and freeze warnings from West Texas to West Virginia.
A third round of icy precipitation was anticipated for Wednesday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ted Ryan. By Thursday, the storm is expected to impact northwest Georgia.
The storm has drawn arctic air from the north, aiding in the production of steady sleet and freezing rain, with temperatures remaining steady due to cloud cover at night. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, temperatures were expected to stay in the 20s during the day.
“We’re having moisture from the arctic lifted over the shallow air mass and precipitating as this sleet and freezing rain mix,” Ryan said.
