Fort Worth officials pretreating roads ahead of arctic air blast: 'Better safe than sorry'

As Arctic air makes its return to North Texas this weekend, city officials aren’t taking any chances.

What we know:

The frigid temperatures move in Saturday night, bringing cloud cover and the potential for flurries. 

A storm forming in the Gulf Sunday night may bring light, fluffy snow or flakes late Monday. Areas south of DFW, including Waco, are more likely to get some snow accumulation.

Featured

Dallas weather: Freezing temperatures, snow possible MLK weekend

Enjoy the last day of mild weather... A cold front is approaching the metroplex as an arctic blast brings freezing temps and possible flurries for MLK weekend.

Despite very slim chances for precipitation for the DFW Metroplex, crews were still out pretreating roads as a precaution.

Fort Worth MLK Day Parade Postponed

A dramatic drop in temperatures for the second year in a row is forcing chair Krista Daniels to postpone Greater Fort Worth's Martin Luther King Jr. Parade.

"When the weather drops to certain temperatures, they do not want to put the children at risk," she explained. 

The Monday holiday will be the coldest as an arctic front pushes through this weekend, sending lows into the 20s.

Now, the 40th annual celebration is rescheduled for February 17 on President's Day.

"The city officials are helping out," said Daniels. "They said to be calm. It will be alright. I said, ‘Alright. I am trusting you guys!’"

Fort Worth Pretreating Roads

Val Lopez with the TxDOT Fort Worth District says they finished pretreating on Friday.

"We started pretreating our system Wednesday," he said.

North Texas isn't expecting heavy precipitation during this artic front, but flurries are possible early next week.

TxDOT crews hit the state highways to drop brine.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we did pretreat in anticipation for chilly weather," Lopez said. "We are not sure about the precipitation."

Lane Zarate with Fort Worth’s public works department says had a busy Friday treating roads with brines around hospitals and emergency zones.

"We usually stockpile around 800 tons of salt and 4,000 tons of sand," he said.

Overnight Monday into Tuesday morning, the sand trucks will then run their routes with city works on 12-hour shifts.

"Right now, the forecast isn’t calling for a lot of winter precipitation," said Zarate. "However, we are monitoring the forecast. We know that it can change and change quickly. So we always want to prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

ERCOT Issues Weather Watch

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has issued a weather watch due to the extreme cold.

For now, that weather watch will be in place from Monday to Thursday next week when they will expect higher electrical demand.

The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 4 Weather, Fort Worth's MLK parade organizers, the TxDOT Fort Worth District and the city of Fort Worth's public works department.

Fort WorthWinter WeatherTransportation