Icicles fixed to awnings on the Decatur Square brought unique reflections of the Wise County courthouse Tuesday after the prolonged effects of Winter Storm Fern. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Wise County’s way of life froze to a halt this week after an arctic storm coated roads in ice, sleet and snow that lingered for more than six days.
Winter Storm Fern moved into North Texas on Jan. 23, with the county waking up Saturday morning to stark-white, sleet-covered roads. By the time precipitation tapered off Monday, Wise County had accumulated between 1 and 4 inches of sleet and snow, with ice totals generally under one-tenth of an inch, according to the National Weather Service. Heavier snow totals of up to 6 inches were reported near the Wise-Tarrant County line.
While power outages were limited, road conditions quickly became the storm’s most persistent hazard, complicating travel through at least Thursday. And what began as a winter storm turned into an extended winter break for Wise County students, with all area schools closed through Thursday and many businesses and government offices operating on delayed schedules.
Icy roads near U.S. 287 and U.S. 380 Business. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
U.S. 380 on Tuesday morning. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Trinity Street was among the central city streets in Decatur that was cleared as of Tuesday. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
As the ice lingered, Wise County felt an encyclopedia of winter weather phenomena. It started with thundersleet, which was reported in the region Saturday night. Then came the freezing fog from Jan. 26 through Jan. 29 that added a thin glaze atop already compacted sleet, snow and ice. Throughout this week, cobblestone ice formed beneath tire ruts, and by Wednesday and Thursday, black ice emerged as daytime melting refroze overnight, contributing to several crashes Thursday morning.
Each of these hazards were exacerbated by the county’s prolonged cold snap, which followed an unseasonably warm winter for Wise County so far this year.
Wise County remained under an extreme cold warning for several days, with wind chills hovering near or below zero and creating the potential for frostbite and other cold-related injuries with prolonged exposure. After briefly climbing above freezing Monday afternoon, temperatures dipped again after sunset. As of Thursday morning, the overnight freezes continued to compound issues on Wise County’s roads, which were largely coated by a layered cake of snow, sleet and ice.
AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Over the weekend, Medical City Decatur emergency room saw a rise in patients with weather-related injuries that included slip-and-fall accidents. The amount of patients transported from the scenes of car crashes increased on Monday, as more and more residents ventured out, packing down layers of ice.
Driving conditions were especially treacherous on the back roads.
The Wise County Sheriff’s Office responded to 55 motorist assists as of Thursday morning and worked 31 crashes, most of them minor due to slower speeds. Residents in off-road vehicles were also seen helping out stranded motorists from trouble spots and hills.
Throughout the week, officials continued urging residents to stay home when possible and allow extra time if travel is necessary.
On Sunday night alone, Decatur police assisted more than 20 stranded motorists overnight. The most serious crashes included a pair of rollover wrecks reported Thursday morning on U.S. 380.
Wise County EMS handled 120 calls for service during the storm period, including 27 crashes and 82 medical emergencies as of Wednesday evening. Eleven people were injured in ice-related incidents, including broken legs and hips from falls, said Wise County EMS Chief Randall Preuninger. Crews also responded to a handful of cold-related medical calls and worked nine wrecks Thursday morning alone.
The agency prepared for the surge in activity.
“We staffed heavy every day beginning Friday,” Preuninger said, noting that six ambulances, a second rescue unit and additional squad units were positioned in Alvord, Newark and Boonsville. “The beginning and the end of winter storms are always when it’s worse.”
Road crews had been preparing well before the storm arrived. Texas Department of Transportation crews began pretreating major highways in Wise County with brine on Jan. 20 and 21 and entered 24/7 operations, said TxDOT Public Information Officer Val Lopez.
Those efforts helped keep Wise County’s most critical corridors — U.S. 81/287 and U.S. 380 — generally passable throughout the event. Throughout the storm, the biggest challenge for motorists was getting to those highways in the first place.
AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Chris Shafer, project superintendent with Premier Commercial Group, breaks up ice on the steps of the Wise County Courthouse. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Untreated county roads, side streets and farm roads were “horrible,” said Decatur Police Chief Delvon Campbell Wednesday morning. They started to improve later this week as the thaw and clearing efforts ramped up.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Colby Shawn said crews worked to clear Tier 3 roadways, including Texas 101, Texas 114 and Farm Road 51 South on Wednesday before they moved to Tier 4 farm-to-market roads Thursday.
TxDOT operated four snowplows with sanding boxes and one maintainer in Wise County, though the maintainer was struck by a vehicle on U.S. 81/287 during operations, Shawn said.
Despite early comparisons to Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the state’s electric grid remained stable. ERCOT avoided generation shortfalls, preventing the widespread and prolonged outages that left millions without power during the 2021 freeze that coincided with more than 240 deaths in Texas.
“A big difference this time was that there was power to deliver,” said Oncor Area Manager Sabrina Easley. “In 2021, the loss of the grid prohibited us as electric utilities from doing what we do — getting the lights back on.”
That stability, Easley said, was bolstered by Oncor’s system resiliency and storm mitigation investments. The company’s program, which began in Wise County, includes pole and transformer replacements, wire upgrades, vegetation management and structural reinforcements and is scheduled to continue through 2030.
As a result, only a handful of outages were reported locally. In Runaway Bay, residents lost power late Saturday night, prompting One Stop Gas Station to be designated as a warming center in case of a prolonged outage. Power was restored by 12:50 a.m. Sunday.
On Tuesday, a substation transformer failure caused an outage affecting more than 2,000 Oncor customers in Alvord and Chico. Service to Chico was restored quickly after crews shifted electrical loads, while Alvord customers experienced an outage lasting about an hour.
Gas service disruptions were also reported. Atmos Energy said approximately 190 customers in the Decatur area lost service Saturday morning, but service was restored by Saturday evening. Nearly 90 technicians and plumbers were staged at Decatur First Baptist Church to complete repairs and safely restore service.
Atmos crews staged at First Baptist Church in Decatur to address an outage that affected around 190 customers in the area. COURTESY | NATE MARA
Looking ahead, Brennen Darrah, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said a dry cold front is expected to move into the area Friday. While the system is not expected to bring additional precipitation, it will reinforce cold temperatures across the region.
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