As a blanket of [… checks my notes …] thundersleet coated the roads Monday afternoon, North Texans are managing to keep their sense of humor as they hunker down while conditions are deteriorating across Dallas-Fort Worth. (And if you have hunker down or deteriorating on your #DFWWX drinking bingo card, we’re sorry. If you have the word treacherous, better get some food in your system because you gonna be sloppy.)
‘It gone rain’
The social media for Southlake DPS has been on point for years, but they’re hitting on all cylinders for this winter storm. Yesterday, Southlake got an early start on warning its citizens of the impending treacherous [drink] conditions. They wrote in successive Tweets:
“FREEZING WEATHER THIS WEEK, PROBABLY! All right, fair citizens, that photo below is what we don’t want to see this week on our overpasses or anywhere else. Public Works will be working to eliminate that ice, but it’s on you to be smart and cautious as well.”
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The weather experts (not us, the police and fire departments) have said the overpasses might freeze, there might be precipitation that could be ice or snow, and it might be really cold.
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Like we had to type “precipitation” six times to get it right, because that’s not a word that police and fire departments use a lot…because we aren’t the weather experts. We say “it gone rain” or “methinks these fine eyes have seent a flurry of snow.”
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So when we bust out the “precipitation” or words like “mild” or “stratosphere” or “wind scale,” you know we’re regurgitating words from weather experts…again, which we are not. We’re police and fire fighters.
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Pay attention to the weather experts on TV. Listen to your weather radio. Drive normal and cautiously. Have a prep kit. Give yourself time to slow or stop. Wear a fleece or something. You should know what to do when it’s cold.
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It’s 2023 and you’re barraged by information and you’ve made it this far. Keep it up.
Bring in the dogs Jimmy Kibble and Chewbarka, UnLeSs tHeY’rE a hUsKy, cAuSe wE kNoW tHeY lOvE tHiS wEaThEr.
Originally tweeted by Southlake DPS (@SouthlakeDPS) on January 29, 2023.
Lord Ruffington III
When Southlake police advised citizens to slow down on the roads, they promised to write you a tardy slip for work, and they delivered.
Here’s the Plano edition for everyone in the state that now works at Legacy and the Dallas North Tollway.
Thundersleet
Remember cobblestone ice like 10 years ago (edit: It’s back). Here’s a new term to add to your Dallas-Fort Worth vocabulary: Thundersleet.
This extremely rare type of winter precipitation forms when rain falls from a cloud but freezes when it gets closer to the surface. They’re like “hail grains” or “a mix of sleet and ice balls of slightly less than pea size falling copiously.” These little “hailettes” are freezing together to create ridiculously slick walking and driving conditions.
Is that my own Tweet in a funny Tweet roundup? Why yes it is because no one else was saying it.
Have a funny Tweet to share? Email me the link to [email protected] or DM @daltxrealestate on Twitter. Don’t make me Tweet to myself.
And will you look at that? Plano ISD just canceled school tomorrow. Guess we’re all gone be sloppy.
