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| Icicles formed on a photinia bush after the first round of winter weather moved through Tarrant county, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013. A second, stronger round of freezing precipitation is expected to hit north Texas Sunday night and Monday morning. |
A large storm already
blamed for at least eight deaths in the West slogged through Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest on Sunday, leading to
hundreds of flight cancellations as it slowly churned east ahead of
Thanksgiving.
After the storm plows through
the Southwest, meteorologists expect the Arctic mass to head south and
east, threatening plans for Tuesday and Wednesday as people hit the
roads and airports for some of the busiest travel days of the year.
More
than 300 flights were cancelled at Dallas-Fort Worth International
Airport, representing about one-third of the scheduled departures, and a
spokeswoman said deicing equipment had been prepared as officials
planned for the worst in a flurry of conference calls and meetings.
"It's
certainly going to be a travel impact as we see the first few people
making their way for Thanksgiving," National Weather Service
meteorologist Tom Bradshaw said.
The National
Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for chunks of North
Texas from noon Sunday until midday Monday. Parts of Oklahoma are also
under a winter storm warning, while an advisory has been issued for
other parts of the state. A mix of rain and sleet began falling north of
Dallas on Interstate 35 by midday Sunday, and areas of southwestern
Oklahoma woke up to several inches of snow.
Some
elevated overpasses had icy surfaces, but Bradshaw said the worst
weather could be expected between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m., possibly snarling
morning rush hour.
Several inches of snow fell
overnight in Altus in far southwestern Oklahoma, said Damaris Machabo, a
receptionist at a Holiday Inn motel.
"It
looks great. I love the snow," Machabo said. The snow and freezing
temperatures made driving in the area treacherous, but Machabo said she
had no problems getting to work early Sunday. Forecasts called for more
snow in the area later in the day.
Portions of
New Mexico - especially in some of the higher elevations - also had
several inches of snow, and near white out conditions were reported
along stretches of Interstate 40 west of Albuquerque.
Then
along the New Mexico-Texas border, into the El Paso area, a mix of
snow, sleet and ice forced some road closures and created messy driving
conditions.
Flagstaff in Arizona had 11 inches
of snow by early Sunday, and was expected to get another inch by the
end of the day before the storm petered out. Metro Phoenix and other
parts of central Arizona received between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches of
rain over the course of the storm. The storms caused cancellations of
sporting events and parades and damaged the roofs of homes across
Arizona.
In Tucson, firefighters on Friday
recovered the body of a man who was swept away by high water in the
Santa Cruz River. Tucson police said Sunday an autopsy revealed signs of
trauma, and they were investigating the death as a homicide. They did
not say whether they had ruled out the storm as a cause of his death.
By
early Sunday, the weather was blamed for at least eight deaths in
several fatal traffic accidents. The storm also caused hundreds of
rollover accidents, including one that injured three members of singer
Willie Nelson's band when their bus hit a pillar on Interstate 30 near
Sulphur Springs, about 75 miles northeast of Dallas.
Dallas
prepared for the storm by declaring "Ice Force Level 1," code for
sending 30 sanding trucks to trouble shoot hazardous road conditions.
At
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, spokeswoman Cynthia Vega said
most of the cancelled flights were in the afternoon and evening hours
and were with American Airlines and American Eagle. The possibility of
ice on the runways led to a series of conference calls and meetings
early Sunday, she added, noting the airport had liquid and solid deicers
ready for use.
The storm system, though, was
particularly hard to predict because a couple of degrees here or there
with the temperature will determine whether regions see rain, sleet or
snow, Bradshaw said.
"It's very difficult to
pin those down," Bradshaw said. "It's slow moving and it's sort of
bringing its energy out in pieces so it's kind of hard to time these as
they come across with a great deal of accuracy."
