The Texas Tundra

Icemageddon or Icepocalypse? Whatever you choose to call the big ice storm that hit DFW this past week, one thing's for sure; it's been brrrrr cold! 

This graphic from the Wednesday, December 4th weather forecast certainly did not look promising. The temps were in the 80s on Wednesday, so it was hard to imagine such a dramatic shift. No. Wait. This is north Texas and just about anything weather-wise is possible. Oftentimes, the local weathermen don't get it quite right.
This time, however, they nailed it!

Thankfully, we five Smiths all get along, because due to impassable roads and school closures, we have been stuck indoors sharing a goodly amount of family bonding time. 

Mr. Smith grew up in Oklahoma, I grew up in Indiana, and we have lived in places like Spokane and Ft. Collins that see a lot of snow, so we are no strangers to winter weather; however, this was not your average, run-of-the-mill winter snowstorm. The freezing rain/sleet/ice started falling on Thursday afternoon. It may look like snow, but this white stuff is rock hard. Several inches of ice accumulated overnight. Thankfully, we did not lose our electricity.

The DFW metro area pretty much came to a grinding halt -- or maybe it was a sliding stop? There was no school or work on Friday.

On Saturday, the road conditions had not changed one bit, as temperatures on Friday did not get above freezing.

In the afternoon on Saturday, we all decided to venture out to Kroger, which is three miles away from our neighborhood. It took about 45 minutes to get to the store. There were no eggs or milk (dairy) to be found. I guess it's a good thing we use soy and/or almond milk, as there were no shortages of this kind of milk.

The parking lot at Kroger was truly an ice rink. One customer was seen skating from the store with bags of groceries in hand. No, he did not do a triple toe loop, but this guy certainly had the right idea.

We opted to take an alternate route home; however, the condition of the roads on the more heavily traveled route was no better than the city streets we were trying to avoid. Cars were stopped/stuck in the middle of the three lane highway. Renegade drivers took to the median to get traction in the grass. Those vehicles to our left are off road. There is no paved lane there. 

The median route was also a more convenient way to get around the stopped vehicles. We stayed off of the median. We were stuck in the icy ruts, creeping along at 20-25 mph. Slowly, but surely, we made it home.

I found this photo of I-35 north of DFW that tells the tale of big rigs stopped quite literally in their tracks -- for days. 

This pretty much describes the situation. Schools were also closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Day 6: We are finally out of the deep freeze. Ahhh! Things are starting to thaw out, and the schools have all reopened. I guess this is one for the books, or for the blog. 

Even though it is not even officially winter yet, I am quite ready for spring. Thankfully, temperatures are forecasted to be back in the 70s next week. I'll believe it when I see it.