280 sanding trucks patrol the streets of Dallas County, but the thin sheet of ice closed us down. Dallas ISD did the right thing — and it turns out that DISD’s closing for weather is so rare that every other institution we work with keys off of them, knowing that means fewer shutdowns. But today, ice, no dice.
Sorta like this 2009 photo of north Dallas, but without the pretty sky, with duller ice, and more cold. Lauren Allen is a professional photographer -- did she add in the nice sunrise? (Buy the photo and see!) It doesn't look so treacherous as it is; not seen in the photo: an estimated (by me) 24 jackknifed 18-wheelers on I-635, just a few blocks away.
So, five days to Super Bowl, and Green Bay and Chicago Pittsburgh fans can’t fly to Dallas because of ice. I imagine fans already here a jumping up and down in their $500-a-night hotel rooms, incredulous that such a thin sheet of cold stuff is keeping them holed up like naked mole rats. Host city events in Fort Worth and Dallas are cancelled for today, and maybe for much of the rest of the week.
Son James, at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, is just three degrees colder, but missing the ice and wind we have. His windchill isn’t so great as ours. Windy City, you ain’t seen nothing like the winds of Texas. Usually they don’t blow so cold, though.
Our front gate is frozen. The lock won’t budge. We’ll have to snowshoe from the backyard to get the newspaper.
Global warming deniers are dancing with glee. They think the fact that we’ve got Arctic weather means warming isn’t happening, forgetting to look to the Arctic, which is eerily warm.
But it’s all cool. No school!
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Any experienced skier knows that as long as it is still cold enough to snow, we get bigger dumps when it is less cold, other things being equal. Of course, if the temperature is near freezing, the next warning jiggle causes melts.
LikeLike
I know that, John. Pittsburgh. What is the word for a non-typo, when you type a word correctly, but it’s not the word you meant to type?
Obviously few sports fans reading this blog . . .
LikeLike
The rotten weather this winter is related to global warming, and it doesn’t take much more than a cursory understanding of how the warmer arctic winter is forcing winter weather further south. Warmer air masses create these things called “fronts” which push cold air masses around, and in return get pushed around by the cold air masses in a struggle of thermodynamics and greater variability in weather, more ruckus in the upper atmosphere that leads to bad weather.
We have had a winter in Minnesota that has been milder, yet more snowy than the winters from ten years ago. We have had shorter sub-zero spells than we normally do, while our mailboxes are buried in snow. Yes, this is a local condition, but it certainly makes a counterpoint to the gleeful dismissal of global warming by Texans who are dealing with weather that is unusually colder and icier than normal.
Robert, climate measures trending on a large scale, and the measurements used to compare means are global and not local.
LikeLike
Here’s a simple explanation for Mr. Barton:
Snow has two simple ingredients: cold and moisture. Warmer air collects moisture like a sponge until it hits a patch of cold air. When temperatures dip below freezing, a lot of moisture creates a lot of snow.
And scientists have been saying for at least two decades that global warming will indeed cause bigger snow storms.
Perhaps, Mr. Barton, you might want to learn the difference between “climate” and “weather.” Because they’re not the interchangable terms you apparently think they are.
LikeLike
“Green Bay and Chicago fans can’t fly to Dallas because of ice. ”
Just to get geography correct, Green Bay is playing *Pittsburgh* in the Super Bowl.
LikeLike
Robert, if you don’t know what you’re talking about…do yourself a favor and keep your mouth shut.
Being thought a fool is better then proving beyond all doubt you are one.
LikeLike
Yes Robert, it’s snowing here in Indiana. And it’s cold. Climate change must be a complete hoax.
Robert, seriously. Are you that thick? Do you understand that the whole global warming issue has nothing whatsoever to do with the weather in middle America?
Ed, is there a really simple, maybe 3rd grade level web site with global warming information? Let’s post a link Robert can use and understand.
LikeLike
Gotta be global warming!
LikeLike