Light snow falls in North Texas

The Associated Press

DALLAS - A light snow fell across parts of North Texas this morning, a day after a storm system left as much as 9 inches of snow on northern parts of the state and brought a tornado to South Texas.

No one was injured by a twister packing 95 to 105 mph winds in Corpus Christi on Thursday afternoon, but trees were snapped and several homes were damaged, said Roger Gass, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Corpus Christi.

Meanwhile, motorists found icy conditions on some North Texas roads for the morning commute as 1 to 3 inches of snow was expected Friday morning, said Jessica Schultz, National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth. Temperatures were expected to hover around freezing before warming to at least the 40s in many parts of the region later in the day, she said.

At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, officials said that by Friday morning the runways were clear and dry. But they expected to have at least 60 more departures canceled Friday morning because of Thursday's storm, mainly because many aircraft were out of position. As a result of 1 inch of snow falling Thursday afternoon, 500 departures were canceled at the airport and thousands of passengers stranded.

Snow accumulations Thursday ranged from a trace in Dallas to up to 9 inches in Cooke County on the Red River.

The winter storm Thursday left slick roads in North Texas that sent some school buses into ditches and hundreds of cars off the roads.

In Cooke County south of Gainesville, several buses from the Callisburg school district slid into ditches as students from all grades were being taken home early Thursday because of the weather, Cooke County Emergency Management Coordinator Ray Fletcher said.

The children walked out through the main doors except in one case, where the bus slid onto its side and they had to escape through a back door, he said. No injuries were reported.

"They let school out early because nobody counted on it getting bad this quick," Fletcher said. "There were no injuries, just real hassles in getting the buses out of the ditches."

Many businesses, government buildings and schools throughout the region closed early and called off events Thursday. Still, minor car accidents and traffic jams were reported in several cities.

lac