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Damaging Southern Ice Storm Snarled Travel, Knocked Out Power From Texas To Tennessee
Damaging Southern Ice Storm Snarled Travel, Knocked Out Power From Texas To Tennessee
Jan 17, 2024 3:29 PM

At a Glance

A four-day ice storm was damaging over parts of the South.Roads were impassable, trees damaged and power knocked out in parts of Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. The Austin and Dallas metro areas, as well as parts of Arkansas, were hardest hit.

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An ice storm hammered parts of the South in late January and early February 2023, snarling roads, damaging trees and knocking out power from Texas to Tennessee.

T​his weather system was named Winter Storm Mara (MARE-uh) by The Weather Channel.

(​MORE: How Winter Storms Are Named)

M​ara's ice unfolded in multiple rounds beginning on Jan. 30 and ending by midday on Feb. 3.

The map below shows all of the sleet and freezing rain reports along the storm's path, stretching from Texas to the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and the central Appalachians over that four-day period.

Sleet reports (triangles) and freezing rain reports (squares) from the Jan. 30 - Feb. 3, 2023, ice storm. The darker-colored squares correspond to greater ice accumulation from freezing rain.

(NOAA/NWS)

T​he highest ice accumulations occurred near the Austin metro area and west into the Texas Hill Country. Around three-quarter of an inch of ice was measured in Fischer and near Llano, Texas.

A quarter to one-third of an inch of ice, after a round of accumulated sleet, was reported around Dallas-Ft. Worth, making roads ice-packed.

U​p to a half inch of ice in Arkansas downed trees and knocked out power, particularly in the southern half of the state.

A​nd in Tennessee, from one-tenth to one-half inch of ice on top of sleet turned streets in into an ice rink. Accumulations around a tenth of an inch made roads slick and brought down a few trees in the metro area.

J​ust over 500,000 customers lost power during the storm, primarily in a strip from central to northeast Texas into southern Arkansas, including the Austin metro area, according to according to poweroutage.us.

H​ere were some daily highlights of the ice storm.

M​onday, Jan. 30

U​p to an inch of sleet was reported Monday in parts of eastern Oklahoma, including the , accompanied by lightning, at times. About a half inch of sleet was reported in Denton, Texas.

P​ortions of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex saw a mix of freezing rain and sleet.

Freezing rain was reported in Fayetteville and Fort Smith, Arkansas, as well as Joplin and Springfield, Missouri. Sleet and freezing rain was observed as far south as the Texas Hill Country, including the Austin and San Antonio metros.

Tuesday, Jan. 31

There were in the Austin and Dallas-Ft. Worth metro areas because of icy conditions Tuesday. Icing also forced closures on stretches of Interstate 40 and has in eastern Arkansas.

Lightning accompanied moderate to heavy bursts of sleet in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

W​ednesday, Feb. 1

More freezing rain hit the Austin metro area, and sleet and freezing rain returned to the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, where from earlier rounds of the storm.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .

An iced over pedestrian walkway is lined by trees that are covered with ice from a few days of sleet and rain, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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