North Texans woke up to light snow flurries and negative wind chills Wednesday morning. The bone-chilling cold is sticking around at least a little while longer.
The National Weather Service’s extreme cold warning, which began Tuesday, was set to expire at 9 a.m. Thursday but the dangerously cold conditions were expected to remain until at least midday Friday.
The wintry precipitation lasted a majority of the morning throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, weather service records show. It didn’t really accumulate beyond trace amounts in the cities but some areas, especially south of lakes, had minor accumulations, according to the weather service.
“The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 10 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes,” weather officials warned, encouraging people to dress in layers like a hat, face mask and gloves if outside.
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As of midday Wednesday, wind chills at DFW International Airport dipped down to minus 8 multiple times while the coldest actual temperature in the morning was 12 degrees. Dallas Love Field Airport was slightly warmer with the chilliest wind chill of the morning reported as minus 7 with an actual temperature of 14.
These plunging temperatures compete with some of the coldest temperatures recorded for mid-February at DFW Airport. The coldest-ever Feb. 19 was 9 degrees in 1978, according to historic data, while the average temperatures for the date are a high of 62 and low of 41.
Wednesday’s high temperature did set a daily record for Feb. 19 at DFW Airport. The high temperature of 28 degrees was the lowest maximum temperature for that date, breaking the old record of 31 degrees set Feb. 19, 1903, which was tied in 2006, according to the weather service.
Road conditions remained mostly clear and some power outages were reported by Oncor but they weren’t sweeping. ERCOT, the electrical grid operator for most of Texas, issued a weather watch through Friday but said grid conditions were expected to be normal.
Related:What’s the difference between a winter weather advisory, watch and warning?
Larger North Texas school districts continued with classes, though some like Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD canceled outdoor activities and events through Thursday.
The City of Dallas also temporarily suspended some of its sanitation services due to the cold, including routes requiring workers to manually empty garbage or recycling carts. Crews were planned to work through Saturday to catch up on any delayed routes and any materials not collected by then will be picked up during next week’s regular service.
As winter weather gripped the nation, more than 150 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled at DFW Airport and roughly 835 were delayed as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to FlightAware. Meanwhile, Love Field had five cancellations and 138 delays.
Wind chills Wednesday night and Thursday morning in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were expected to be in the single digits, warming up into the teens by about noon Thursday then 20s later in the day. Temperatures may creep up to a high of 32 by the afternoon.
Friday’s high temperature in Dallas is expected to rise above freezing.
Temperatures will warm up by the weekend with lows on Saturday slightly above freezing. There’s also a slight chance of rain midday Saturday but the following few days are clear of precipitation.
High temperatures should be back in the 70s and 80s by Monday and Tuesday.
Dallas forecast via KXAS-TV (NBC5):
FRIDAY: Partly sunny and chilly. Low: 21. High: 37. Wind: E 5-10 mph.
SATURDAY: Partly sunny and cool. Low: 29. High: 48. Wind: SE 5-10 mph.
SUNDAY: Sun & clouds, milder. Low: 35. High: 62. Wind: SW 5-10 mph.
MONDAY: Warm with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Low: 43. High: 73. Wind: SW 5-10 mph.
TUESDAY: Plenty of sunshine and warm. Low: 48. High: 76. Wind: SW 5-10 mph.
