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Frozen state

Temps fall below 0, crippling county

Messenger photo by Richard Greene

The bright sunshine Monday brought only a measure of relief as Wise County continued to suffer through a deep freeze.

Temperatures struggled to reach double digits Monday and fell below zero in much of the county Tuesday morning. Wind chills in the county dropped well below zero, prompting the National Weather Service in Fort Worth to issue a rare wind chill warning for the region.

“I do believe it’s the first time we’ve issued a wind chill warning. We did so because we expect wind chills to drop into the -10 to -20 category,” said Tom Bradshaw, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The temperature at the Decatur Municipal Airport fell to 3 Monday morning.

The chill in Wise County and all of Texas stressed the state’s power grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas ordered rolling outages to reduce the record demand. Many Wise County residents were without power for hours.

Decatur set up a warming station at the Decatur Conference Center for residents without power.

Decatur Fire Chief Nate Mara said Tuesday morning there were 34 to 36 people utilizing the space, some of whom are Governor’s Ridge residents. Mara said the assisted living facility was evacuated Monday after going hours without electricity, and residents who were unable to stay with family were brought to the conference center. Wise County EMS provided a medic at the site overnight, and Decatur Police Department provided an officer for security.

Along with power outages, water lines froze and roads, mainly side streets, were covered with snow from Sunday. Texas Department of Transportation trucks worked throughout Sunday and Monday to clear highways. U.S. 81/287 and U.S. 380 were mostly clear by Tuesday morning. Many side streets were slick, including Business U.S. 380 near the Wise County Sheriff’s Office.

On average, four to six inches of snow fell in Wise County between Sunday morning and Monday.

PLAYING IN THE COLD – Don Duval pulls his son Camden around the streets in New Fairview Sunday afternoon. Messenger photo by Richard Greene

More precipitation is expected late Tuesday and into Wednesday.

“In general, snow, possibly mixed with some freezing rain will be moving into Wise County Tuesday evening and continuing overnight into Wednesday morning,” Bradshaw said. “Accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are possible by midday Wednesday.”

Temperatures are expected to reach the mid 20s Wednesday. But the county is not expected to start to thaw until Friday afternoon with temperatures finally reaching the mid 30s.

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