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Two weeks ago, Dallas breathed out a triumphant chuckle when the massive winter storm that promised to encase the city in ice and smother all signs of life arrived instead as a chilly but gentle rain. No way would the weather gods have the chutzpah to mess with the Big D, right?
Turns out, the weather cognoscenti weren’t wrong about the coming icemageddon, just two weeks premature. Bearing down on Dallas right now is a storm the likes of which WFAA weather guru Pete Delkus has never seen before.
“The Metroplex is going to be entombed in ice,” he warned today on Facebook. “It’s just a question of how thick will it ultimately get.”
The first storm arrives Thursday night. That, Delkus says, will be followed by a “McFarland Signature,” which “effectively relocates the North Pole to the state of Kansas, and we will see temperatures dropping to levels we have not experienced in years by early next week.”.
“Folks … this is serious,” Delkus concludes.
John Calipari believes it. The University of Kentucky basketball coach requested, probably in jest, that Saturday’s matchup against Baylor at AT&T Stadium be postponed.
Of course, hyperbolic freakouts are Delkus’ MO. The considerably more staid folks at the National Weather Service are hedging their bets more carefully, declaring an “increase in the likelihood of ice.”
We’re putting our money on Delkus in this instance. Why? Because this:
Jim Cantore is The Weather Channel’s go-to guy for running around the country to cover hurricanes and the like. He doesn’t waste his time with cold drizzles. Plus, according to AccuWeather.com, Dallas is being targeted by an angry cactus of ice, rain and snow.
All that’s left to be done is stock up on nonperishable food items and bottled water.
Head over the page for the official NWS (National Weather Service, not Not Work Safe) declaration of panic, complete with more capital letters than you can even imagine, and an explanation of how ice storms work.
FANNIN-LAMAR-COLLIN-HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-TARRANT-DALLAS-ROCKWALL-
ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL-JOHNSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…BONHAM…PARIS…PLANO…GREENVILLE…
COMMERCE…COOPER…SULPHUR SPRINGS…FORT WORTH…ARLINGTON…
DALLAS…ROCKWALL…STEPHENVILLE…DUBLIN…GRANBURY…
OAK TRAIL SHORES…GLEN ROSE…CLEBURNE…BURLESON…COMANCHE…
DE LEON…GOLDTHWAITE…HAMILTON…HICO…CLIFTON…MERIDIAN…
VALLEY MILLS
312 PM CST WED DEC 4 2013
…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THURSDAY TO 6 PM CST
FRIDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING FOR FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET…WHICH IS IN EFFECT
FROM 6 PM THURSDAY TO 6 PM CST FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS
NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* TIMING…RAIN IS EXPECTED TO TRANSITION TO FREEZING RAIN
THURSDAY EVENING AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY WHILE MIXING WITH
SLEET.
* MAIN IMPACT…ICE AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS
TRAVEL CONDITIONS ON AREA ROADS…ESPECIALLY ON BRIDGES AND
OVERPASSES. SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL IMPACTS ARE POSSIBLE DURING THIS
EVENT…WHERE ICE ACCUMULATIONS MAY MAKE ROAD SURFACES
IMPASSABLE AT TIMES THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
* OTHER POSSIBLE IMPACTS…ICE ACCUMULATIONS MAY BRING DOWN
TREES AND POWER LINES…AND COULD CAUSE POWER OUTAGES.
* ACCUMULATION…ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF INCH OF ICE ACCUMULATION
IS POSSIBLE DURING THIS EVENT. THE HIGHEST ACCUMULATIONS WILL
TEND TO BE ON ELEVATED SURFACES…SUCH AS BRIDGES…
OVERPASSES…TREES…AND POWER LINES. UP TO ONE HALF INCH OF
SLEET ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW…
SLEET…AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL
VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.
Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
