Weather Alert With Snow Falling Again In North Texas 2 Days Before The Super Snow Bowl

I was hoping today, the 4th day of the 2nd month of 2011 would bring some relief from the ice and snow and cold.

Maybe as this Friday progresses we will get above freezing. But right now, coming up on 8 in the morning, it is 19 degrees with some form of frozen precipitation falling.

The frozen precipitation is being like icy droplets of fog. Not snow. But, snow did fall overnight, coating every surface once more in white.

Early this morning the National Weather Service had this to say...

"A localized band of heavy snow has developed over the eastern parts of the DFW metroplex with snowfall totals reaching 4-5 inches over Dallas. Snowfall through the next few hours is expected to be light to occasionally moderate, but additional totals of 1 to 2 inches are possible."

Below are some blurbs from the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram about our latest day of  freezing in North Texas...

Great. According to the above forecast by 6pm today we  are still well below freezing. Which I guess means the roads will remain nothing I want to be out driving on. I should have stocked up on more food when I saw so many people doing so on Monday when I was in Wal-Mart. Apparently the longtime locals knew more than I did.

I wonder how many decades it will be before the NFL decides to play another Super Bowl in Arlington? I suspect that may never happen until all sorts of new facilities are built around Cowboys Stadium so that all the Super Bowl activity can take place in one location, rather than spread out over a very large area.

ESPN probably will never return to downtown Fort Worth. Such a sad turn of events. Large crowds were expected, instead the opposite has happened, with that reality captured by a picture and a sentence in this morning's Star-Telegram, with the caption under the picture of a single person standing on an empty parking saying, "A lone fan wandered through the winter wonderland that was Sundance Square as snow fell early Friday."

Still Icebound In Texas & Now Thinking Of Going Swimming With The Icicles

A long long time ago I used to be able to go swimming in what is now my ice pond. The fountain that spouts water into the pool has caused really big icicles to form.

I am really hoping that the icicles begin to melt tomorrow.

Right now it is the hottest it has been here in days. 19 degrees.

Snow is predicted to be possible from now until tomorrow.

Up in my old hometown in Washington, right now, it is 48 degrees. The Scrabble Queen of Washington is escaping those frigid Washington temperatures tomorrow by going to Hawaii.

Meanwhile down in Port Aransas, on the semi-tropical Texas Gulf Coast, Alma has had to give up her regular flip flops and put on real shoes due to it being 40 degrees in Port Aransas. Houston is scheduled to possibly get some snow. I have not heard if the snow is predicted to make it all the way to Alma.

Back here in the D/FW Metroplex the usually hot Elsie Hotpepper turns into Elsie Coolbean in this icy misery.  I've heard from Elsie erratically ever since we went into the DEEP FREEZE. Usually I have heard from Elsie Hotpepper several times by this time in the day. I hope she did not try and do some saloon hopping in these dire conditions and suffer some icy woe.

Al Gore has been in the news explaining how the worst winter weather in decades is just one more sign of Global Warming. I think I actually voted for him.

Warning: DEEP FREEZE & SNOW AHEAD IN NORTH TEXAS JUST IN TIME FOR THE SUPER BOWL

This afternoon the National Weather Service issued one of their "SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS" all in CAPITALS, which in Internet speak indicates one is shouting.

Apparently our recent bout of balmy warm weather in North Texas will be coming to an end by Monday night with the arrival from cold Canada of an Arctic cold front.

Snow is possible on Wednesday, with a chance of significant white stuff falling on Friday. Friday is the day of some of the Super Bowl Parties that I have not been invited to. With many more on Saturday. That I have also not been invited to. Followed by Sunday's biggest Super Bowl Party of all. The actual game. Which I may watch on TV.

Methinks Mother Nature is conspiring with the Powers That Be to deliver an icy punch that probably was not what the NFL was looking for when they agreed to come play a game in Jerry Jones' shiny new stadium.

Below is the National Weather Service message in its shouted entirety....

...WINTRY WEEK AHEAD FOR NORTH TEXAS...

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO NORTH TEXAS MONDAY EVENING... AND SWEEP THROUGH ALL OF NORTH TEXAS BY MID-MORNING TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL THROUGHOUT THE DAY TUESDAY...WITH AFTERNOON READINGS DROPPING INTO THE TEENS IN AREAS NORTHWEST OF FORT WORTH. ALL OF NORTH TEXAS IS EXPECTED TO BE BELOW FREEZING BY TUESDAY EVENING. THE NORTHWESTERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS MAY REMAIN BELOW FREEZING UNTIL FRIDAY.

FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL IMPACT MUCH OF NORTH TEXAS ON TUESDAY. THE ACTIVITY MAY TRANSITION TO SNOW LATE IN THE MORNING NORTH OF I-20. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM BRECKENRIDGE...TO MINERAL WELLS...TO GAINESVILLE...WHERE ACCUMULATIONS OF SLEET MAY EXCEED 1/2 INCH. ADDITIONAL ICE AND SNOW ACCUMULATION MAY OCCUR JUST SOUTHEAST OF THE WATCH AREA AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES WILL BE ISSUED TOMORROW FOR MORE OF THE AREA.

GUSTY NORTH WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH THE FRIGID TEMPERATURES TO PRODUCE WIND CHILLS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AND TEENS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. WIND CHILLS MAY FALL BELOW ZERO TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING ACROSS THE NORTHWESTERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS.

SNOW FLURRIES WILL BE POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY...WITH A CHANCE OF MORE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL ON FRIDAY.

DURING EXTENDED OUTBREAKS OF COLD WEATHER...IT IS ALWAYS ADVISABLE TO BE PROACTIVE AND PROTECT EXPOSED PIPES WITH INSULATING MATERIAL...AND TO LEAVE A WATER FAUCET SLOWLY DRIPPING OVERNIGHT. OUTDOOR PETS SHOULD BE PROVIDED APPROPRIATE SHELTER...AND RESIDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO DRESS IN LAYERS TO AVOID THE IMPACTS OF COLD TEMPERATURES AND WIND CHILLS. ANYTIME TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL BELOW FREEZING...TURN OFF AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS. SPRINKLER SYSTEMS RUNNING IN SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES CAN CREATE HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.

Monday Morning With No Snow On The Ground In My Zone Of North Texas

Looking out my bedroom window this Monday morning we can see there is no snow on the ground. At 30 degrees it is cold enough for snow to stick if some fell after it was cold enough to avoid melting.

I was not much in the mood to deal with multiple inches of snow, so I'm glad the predicted accumulation did not accumulate.

I keep forgetting to get anti-freeze. I am going to have to make sure I remember this as we slide ever deeper into an Arctic Deep Freeze this week.

I learned this morning that the Seattle Seahawk's next step towards playing in the Super Bowl next month in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium is beating the Chicago Bears. Apparently Seattle already beat the Bears this current football season, doing so on Chicago's home field, where the Seahawks will need to beat them again to get to the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile the Dallas Cowboys have a new coach. Methinks if the Dallas Cowboys ever want a winning season again what they need to do is somehow get rid of that re-animated cadaver who runs the team who has the same last name as me. Until that happens it really seems hopeless that that hapless football team will ever have a winning season.

But.

What do I know? I really don't like football at all.

The Predicted Sunday Snow Has Begun To Fall On Fort Worth Earlier Than Predicted

A few minutes past noon the snow began to fall on my zone of North Texas, that being far east Fort Worth. I had to zoom the view from my patio in order to get the blizzard to show up in a picture.

The air temperature is currently 38, so no snow is currently sticking.

This white stuff has arrived hours before it was scheduled to start falling.

Does this portend a big pileup, like Christmas Eve of 2009? Will tomorrow bring Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Snow Gridlock?

Or worse?

I am heading out in a bit, to head to Hurst, to ALDI Food Market, to stock up on vittles in anticipation of a possible long snow siege. That and being out in it sounds fun to me.

Wish me luck. I am not the best snow/ice driver in the world.

A Rainy Sunday In Texas Musing About America's Team: The Seattle Seahawks

Saturday night when the sun set on North Texas the sky was blue. By Sunday morning's arrival of the sun the sky had filled with clouds and was dripping with extreme prejudice.

In other words, it is raining. Cold and raining. 36 degrees out there right now, with the temperature dropping and snow scheduled to arrive as Sunday progresses towards Monday.

I had planned to return to the Tandy Hills today to search for missing sunglasses. Not mine. Sunglasses belonging to one of those Manly Men who was hiking the Tandy Hills yesterday. I suspect, due to the rain, the lost sunglasses will remain safe until hiking conditions return to normal.

Yesterday, in yet one more clear indicator that I do not pay much attention to NFL football I said something like I did not know if the Seattle Seahawks are out of Super Bowl contention or not.

By Saturday night I was watching the Seahawks play the New Orleans Saints in what I was to learn was a Wild Card game in which the Seahawks had themselves an upset win over the reigning Super  Bowl champs.

Back when the Kingdome was still alive it was known as the loudest stadium in both the NFL and whatever you call the league baseball is played in. I did not know, til reading the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about yesterday's Seahawk upset, that the new Qwest Field is also known as the NFL's loudest stadium.

How can Qwest Field be louder than the new Cowboy Stadium? Qwest Field is open on the north end with a view of downtown Seattle. Qwest Field has no roof to reflect back noise, Qwest Field holds only something like 70,000 screamers while the Dallas Cowboy Stadium can hold around 100,000.

Has it yet to rain on a Seahawk game in Qwest Field? I read a couple years ago the lack of rainy games was wreaking havoc with Lesser Seattle's ongoing campaign to always portray Seattle as perpetually dripping.

Apparently Qwest Field is ruled out for a Super Bowl game. Partly because of the weather. The Super Bowl likes a warmer climate. So, why is it being played this year in Arlington? We are currently scheduled for snow followed by a DEEP FREEZE. Come Super Bowl Sunday we could easily be under a 4 inch coating of ice courtesy of an Ice Storm.

Seattle does not get Ice Storms. At least not in my experience. Holding a Super Bowl in Seattle you are right in the downtown of one of the world's trendiest towns, with Qwest Field served by multiple mass transit options. Arlington, where the Dallas Cowboy Stadium sits, has no mass transit.

Qwest Field sits surrounded by all sorts of touristy attractions, including a waterfront. The Dallas Cowboy Stadium is near Six Flags Over Texas and the Ballpark in Arlington, but other than that it sits surrounded by an awful lot of embarrassing urban blight. There is no urban blight surrounding Qwest Field.

I have no idea how many steps remain for the Seattle Seahawks to hurdle to get to the Super Bowl again. I strongly suspect the Seahawks will likely fail to get over one of those hurdles.

I really think, since the Dallas Cowboys don't even play in Dallas, as in the town could not manage to figure out how to erect a new football stadium in the town the team is named after, that this really should be the last nail in the coffin killing Dallas' ridiculous referring to itself as America's Team, which apparently dates from decades ago when Dallas actually had a winning football team.

I think Seattle should be the new America's Team. Seattle has been in a Super Bowl more recently than Dallas. Seattle apparently plays in America's loudest stadium. The team's stadium is actually in its namesake town. Qwest Field is in, by far, a more scenic setting than the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. Plus Seattle always shows up near the top of any of those Best of type lists, while Arlington rarely shows up on such lists.

Okay, that is enough locally politically incorrect verbiage from me this rainy Sunday morning....

Up Late The Chilly 2nd Saturday Morning Of 2011 In Texas

Looking out my bedroom window, this morning, you might guess I was up late Friday night, which is what has me up after the sun on the 2nd Saturday of 2011.

I do not like getting up after the sun, don't like it at all.

Even though the sun has been up for awhile it has only managed to warm the air outside my abode to a chilly 2 degrees above freezing.

Tomorrow we are scheduled, in North Texas, to go below freezing with snow making its first appearance of the current snow season. Not much snow is predicted to accumulate.

If I remember correctly the prediction was for not too much snow accumulating for Christmas of 2009. We ended up with about a foot of the white stuff that time.

Elsie Hotpepper has informed me that she is too heavily scheduled today to exhibit her hiking skills on the Tandy Hills during the Manly Men/Wild Women Hike that starts up in about 2 hours.

And I just heard from Betty Jo Bouvier regarding flying in for the Manly Men/Wild Women Hike, saying, "Sorry, I missed my flight. Maybe next year."

I have a sense that Betty Jo Bouvier is being a tad disingenuous.

As for me, I am currently scheduled to be on the Tandy Hills after the Manly Men & Wild Women have completed their hiking.

Loud Warning For North Texas From The National Weather Service: SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

The National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Statement stating that North Texas has a chance of snow Sunday night through Monday. With incoming extremely cold temperatures.

The National Weather Service is very serious about this warning, apparently, because it was issued in all CAPITALS, which is the Internet version of shouting.

Below is the NWS Weather Statement, in full SHOUT mode....

...A CHANCE OF SNOW ACROSS THE NORTH SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY...

...COLD WEATHER EXPECTED NEXT WEEK...

AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT IS CURRENTLY OFF THE COAST OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING A CHANCE OF RAIN SATURDAY AFTERNOON MAINLY SOUTH OF I-20 AND AREA WIDE SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS TEXAS SUNDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL COOL AND THE RAIN MAY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO SNOW NORTH OF I-20. THE BEST CHANCES OF SNOW WILL BE NORTH OF A JACKSBORO TO EMORY LINE...WHERE SOME ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE. THE EXACT TRACK OF THE UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL DETERMINE HOW FAR SOUTH THE SNOW OCCURS AND HOW MUCH SNOW ACCUMULATES.

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO NORTH TEXAS MONDAY. THE BRISK NORTHERLY WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT ALONG WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL RESULT IN WIND CHILL READINGS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AND TEENS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS. LOWS ARE EXPECTED TO BE IN THE UPPER TEENS NORTHWEST TO UPPER 20S SOUTHEAST BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS AND AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL ONLY BE IN THE 30S ACROSS MOST OF NORTH TEXAS. ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS OKLAHOMA MONDAY. AT THIS TIME...IT APPEARS THAT THERE WILL SOME LIGHT SNOW MAINLY NORTH OF A JACKSBORO TO EMORY LINE.

RESIDENTS ACROSS NORTH TEXAS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER CLOSELY THROUGH THIS WEEKEND FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ON THIS POTENTIAL WINTRY WEATHER EVENT.