By Christina Mlynski
As residents throughout Dallas-FortbrWorth raided grocery stores to stock up on essentials to make it throughbrIcemageddon 2013, school districts and city events were frozen due to roughbrweather conditions.
Carroll Independent School District shut its doors Friday,brDec. 6 and also Monday, Dec. 9 due to inclement weather and poor road conditions.brAdditionally, all after-school events were cancelled.
While citybrhighways and roadways were beginning clear this morning, ice remained inbrpatches on major arterials and in sheets on neighborhood roads and parkingbrlots, explains Citybrof Southlake website.
Southlakebrdrivers were urged to use caution Monday morning as the City of Southlakebroffice got a late start, opening at 10 a.m., while other Tarrant County officesbrwere scheduled to open at noon. No further developments about Tuesday'sbrofficial openings have been made.
Dan Henry,brchief meteorologist at Fox 4 Dallas, states that Monday would consist of abrlight freeze with a low around 30 to 31 degrees. Consequently, freezing fog andbrdrizzle overnight created another glaze of ice on the roadways.
“It's beenbra pretty ugly few days,” Henry tweeted.br“[Weather in the] 50s by the end of the week will feel like a heat wave!”
Tuesday isbrestimated to reach a high of 42 degrees and a low of 28 degrees but is notbrslated for any type of precipitation.
Overall,brroads are in much better shape than a couple days ago.
“Tomorrowbrshould be our first good day of melting, with temperatures rising to near fortiesbrduring the afternoon and the first good dose of sunshine we have seen inbrseveral days,” Henry says. “I suspect by Wednesday afternoon, we should meltbrjust about all the remaining sleet and ice.”
In thebrevent that Southlake has to face Winter Storm Cleon Tuesday, Carroll ISD isbralready planning out proper procedures.
WhilebrCarroll has not made an immediate decision as to the status of school openingbrand closings, assistant superintendent for board and community relations JuliebrThannum stated that multiple factors go into making such a decision.
Forbrinstance, the fluctuation of weather throughout the evening and morning willbrremain a critical factor to the road conditions. Additionally, access tobrschools, including parent pickup and drop-off as well as parking lotbraccessibility, is another major factor.
Communication and connectivity arebrmajor components in dealing with inclement weather. Consequently, Carroll ISDbrgained more than 600 followers on Twitteras a result of the North Texas arctic freeze, Thannum points out.
“Surprisinglybrenough, bad weather decisions are the toughest things to make,” she says. “Youbrhave the responsibility and safety of the staff, students and faculty tobrconsider, which makes the decision to close down the district that muchbrharder.”