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Winter weather surprises North Texans
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff photo -- A blanket of snow fell on Plano and North Texas on Christmas Day. Up to 5 inches were reported to have fallen during the holiday snowstorm.
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
It was a White Christmas for Plano and North Texas as a surprise snowstorm dumped up to 5 inches of snow on the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
According to the National Weather Service, early morning thunderstorms had by 2 p.m. turned into snow, with temperatures dropping below freezing around 2:45 p.m. at DFW Airport.
The storm, the first of its kind this season, caused minor accidents and delays on roadways throughout the region through the following morning, with some highway closures in Dallas.
"Most people seem to be driving very cautiously with the weather, which is good," he said. "Most people have common sense to drive accordingly to the road conditions. That's what you want, and it seems to me people are doing it very well."
The department reported 33 motorist assists between 3:30 p.m. Christmas Day and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Of the 51 vehicle crashes reported from 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, 13 were reported as possible injury crashes.
The only accident in which a person was transported to the hospital occurred a little after 4 p.m. Tuesday, when a car hit a signal light at Park Boulevard and Midway Road. The injuries were reported as minor.
The city of Plano responded to the conditions by sanding major roadways, bridges and inclines in the city. Carpenter, Liberty, Oak Point and Tom Muehlenbeck recreation centers opened three hours late Wednesday, and Schimelpfenig Library was closed all day.
Trooper Lonnie Haschel, Texas DPS spokesman, said approximately 20 crashes occurred on the tollway systems between the beginning of the snowstorm and Wednesday morning. North Texas Tollway Authority crews began sanding the roads yesterday afternoon and evening, he said.
"It could have been a lot worse. We still had folks that were driving too fast on the wet roadways, but it didn't cause crashes where we had the damage reports. They were just sliding off the road."
Motorists commuting to Plano and Dallas from the north on U.S. 75 Wednesday morning may have seen the back half of a red Dodge Neon sticking out from a pond at The Courses at Watters Creek, the golf course formerly known as Chase Oaks. The driver of the vehicle was traveling on the southbound service road shortly after midnight when the vehicle skidded out of control due to ice and landed headfirst into the pond, Tilley said. No injuries were reported.
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