There’s Always the Weather

People who live in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana are rarely at a loss for words. But if they’re ever in need of an exciting topic to liven up a dinner party they can talk about the weather. After all, something strange and unpredictable is always happening with it.

Take the ice and snow storm that blanketed parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas at the end of February. It was extremely severe and totally unexpected. Weather forecasters didn’t catch it at all, at least in Austin. It was supposed to get up to around 45 degrees in Austin on the day that the mercury never rose above 28. Forget about any mention of frozen precipitation. I haven’t yet seen the insurance cost figures from that recent weather event, but I’ll bet that when they do come out, they’re going to be high.

By most accounts, the Dallas-Fort Worth area was literally shut down from one of the worst ice storms to hit the area in recent memory, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. Interstate highways were shut down in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and at other regional airports. Schools were closed all across the affected areas, and around 11,000 people in Austin were without power for a day because of all the ice.

Weather-related traffic accidents killed people in all three states and at least four people died from hypothermia—three immigrants trying to cross the Texas-Mexico border and an elderly woman in Enid, Okla.

San Antonio, at the southern end of the big chill, recorded 350 minor traffic accidents and at least 40 major ones. Travelers were stranded on Interstate 40 in Arkansas for 10 hours after a truck jackknifed outside Little Rock. Those types of scenarios repeated themselves all over the three states.

Still, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the recent storm was relative peanuts compared to some other doozies that have plagued Texas at least in the past.

The newspaper noted that the May 1995 hailstorm that hit Tarrant and Dallas counties caused $1.1 billion in damage and ranks as one of the most destructive storms on record. Roofs, windows and automobiles were destroyed by baseball-sized hail; one person was killed and 109 others were injured.

Tropical Storm Allison swept over the Houston-Galveston area in June 2001 and stayed, causing an estimated $5 billion worth of damage and killing 22 people.

At least seventy people died in Texas from a heat wave that struck in the summer of 1998, when the high temperatures climbed above 100 degree mark and stayed there for a month.

In the spring of 2000 tornadoes blew through Fort Worth and Arlington, killing two and injuring dozens of other. The skyline of downtown Fort Worth still bears the scars, as the severely damaged Bank One tower continues to stand in its devastated state.

So, whether it’s ice storms or heat waves, hurricanes or tornadoes, Texas and its surrounding states can always count on one thing: the weather is sure to make a dramatic statement. Most likely when you least expect it.

Topics Texas Oklahoma Arkansas