Ahhhh! A snowflake!!!! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Yes, that’s right. North Texas is experiencing the first winter storm of the season.
How crazy is it? Well, it was 79 degrees yesterday. Today, the high was 35. And that was at 4 am. It’s been dropping since.
Plus, we’ve got sleet and a bit of snow. But, that was after the rain overnight.
Ice transforms all of the overpasses and ramps here into new arenas of fun for Texas drivers. And we have a LOT of overpasses and ramps.
Unlike most parts of the country, we usually stay warm enough most of the year that we miss out on snow entirely. Instead, we get sleet/ice storms. At least on pure snow, you can get some traction. On ice, it doesn’t matter what kind of drive you have, it’s spin city for everyone.
It’s interesting to watch the local news around this time too. A couple of fox 4 reporters probably needed a change of pants after recording a truck losing control on a highway at around 5 a.m. this morning. In the video, we see the truck hit the brakes and swerve to miss two other trucks previously wrecked, only to skid directly towards the cameraman. Fortunately for them, there was a guard rail and it held, so we see the truck catch the rail and slide down just to the left of the cameraman.
On the way home this afternoon the high five exchange was already shut down on one side from a multiple vehicle pile up. There will probably be some footage on tonight or in the morning of people trying to use the ramps on the high five or 190 exchanges only to discover they’re coated in ice. For those of you that have never seen our interchanges, the ones I am referring two link between two major highways, with two or more layers of bridges and ramps towering up to 100 ft above the lowest level.
The scariest part of driving in it isn’t the ice itself. It’s the other drivers. Sadly, most Texas drivers don’t encounter ice often enough to remember how to drive on it. A lot of them simply ignore it and drive as fast as they would on a normal day. Others believe their 4-wheel drive vehicles are impervious to any forms of harm and drive the same. But equally dangerous are the few who go the complete opposite way and crusie down a left lane of a major freeway going 15 mph when its clearly not warranted to drive quite that slow.
Fortunately, we only have to endure the ice tomorrow morning (it’ll be a good day to go in late to work). Tomorrow’s forecast? Sunny and 49 degrees, which should be good enough to melt all the crap from today. : )

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