Snow snarls traffic, forces flight delays in Texas

February 12, 2010

The Associated Press The San Marcos Record Fri Feb 12, 2010, 08:31 AM CST

Dallas — Record snowfall blanketed parts of Texas on Thursday as a winter storm slowed traffic, interrupted classes and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport had recorded 9.4 inches of snow by late Thursday — the greatest calendar day snowfall total ever registered for Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record was 7.8 inches on Jan. 15, 1964, and Jan. 14, 1917.

Trucks were spreading sand along highways in the Dallas area, and Texas Christian University students got a day off, as classes were canceled due to icy road conditions.

Dallas police responded to 41 major traffic accidents and 132 minor ones. No serious injuries were reported.

The snow was to end in most of the area Thursday night and Friday morning, but the ice was to remain. Temperatures were expected to remain at or below freezing until Friday afternoon, prompting some school systems to cancel classes for Friday.

TCU announced late Thursday that classes would be canceled again Friday. Southern Methodist University in Dallas announced that it would open at noon.

Shelly Heinen, who runs a Braum's ice cream store in Dallas, said quite a few more truckers had stopped in for ice cream on Thursday than ordinarily would have on a February day.

"I think driving in this kind of weather makes people tense and they want something that definitely makes them feel better," she said.

North Texas saw accumulations as high as nearly 10 inches by late Thursday afternoon. The record snowfall made this the snowiest winter in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 32 seasons.

The Abilene area received 3 to 8 inches, and snow also fell in Amarillo and Lubbock, the National Weather Service said.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines and American Eagle airlines canceled nearly 1,100 flights systemwide as of sunset Thursday — about 30 percent of American's daily flight schedule, said American spokesman Steve Schlachter. Of the cancellations, 305 were flights from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, he said.

Schlachter said much of the backup was linked to weather problems along the East Coast.

About 700 flights systemwide, including 400 in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth, were canceled for Friday morning, he said.

"This is probably the worst seven days we've had in decades," Schlachter said of the weather-related disruptions.

About 40 flights were canceled Thursday at Dallas Love Field and there were several delays, mostly between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., said Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King. Officials planned to monitor and reassess the situation Friday morning.

Mailman Wendell Blackgrave, 52, took the fat, wet snowflakes falling on him in stride as he calmly walked from business to business Thursday afternoon, delivering the mail in the main square of the Dallas suburb of Carrollton.

"I like the snow," the 13-year veteran letter carrier said, having just reached into the mail satchel slung across his shoulder for another handful of letters. "It ain't no colder today than yesterday."

At a nearby diner, high school teacher Erin Urquhart marveled at the weather.

"I've never seen flakes this big. We're not used to the fluffy cute snow," she said.

Meanwhile, rainy weather forced the cancellation of Mardi Gras festivities in Port Arthur, in southeast Texas. Temperatures there were in the 40s, the weather service said.

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