Dallas — In much of the rolling plains of West Texas, a blizzard has never been recorded.
There has been one now.
The region west and northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area saw blizzard-like conditions throughout the day Thursday as up to 8 inches of snow fell in the region, according to the National Weather Service. Winds gusting at up to 65 mph drifted the snow as deep as 5 feet in some areas.
No blizzard warning had ever been issued for an area of Texas as far south as Interstate 20, said Jim Wingenroth, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service office in San Angelo.
Heavily traveled Interstate 20 between Cisco and Abilene was closed after six inches of snow fell in the area 130 miles west of Dallas, said Larry Smith, Brownwood area engineer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
"There's a two-foot snow drift at my front door," Smith said Thursday from his office 50 miles south of the closed interstate.
Road crews worked late in the afternoon to reopen the highway to traffic, he said.
A steep grade on Interstate 20, called Ranger Hill, often becomes unscalable by heavy vehicles during icy weather — and Thursday was no exception.
"They're turning 'em around. No one can get up it," said Sue "Pooh" Vasquez, a waitress at the Smokestack restaurant in Thurber, at the base of the hill.
Compounding the traffic obstacles on the interstate are the multitude of jackknifed tractor-trailer rigs and stalled cars, said Trooper Sparky Dean of the Texas Department of Public Safety office in Abilene.
No fatalities or serious injuries have been reported, he said. Dean did not expect the problems to end once the snow stopped.
"Traffic is gonna subside and the moisture's gonna freeze again, and it's very desolate out there," he said.
Of tow truck operators, Dean said, "They're making money. It's Christmas for them."
Gov. Rick Perry activated emergency resources. On Thursday afternoon, he activated some military personnel and high profile vehicles, as a precaution, to assist motorists. Perry cited blizzard conditions on stretches of U.S. 84.
The weather forced cancellation of 150 of 900 scheduled departures from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Thursday, said airport spokesman David Magana.
Southwest Airlines canceled "a handful" of flights at Dallas Love Field on Thursday, said spokesman Brad Hawkins. He said the Dallas-based carrier saw more ill-effects to its schedule in such storm-swept areas as Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Okla.; and Kansas City, Mo.
