Icebound Commute Home

Four hours earlier, I was in Philly where it was dry and 50 degrees. Get back home to find it's 26 and everything is covered with an inch of ice. Something doesn't sound right with that.

Getting out of the Remote North Parking lot ended up being the easy part as what normally takes 45 min to get between the airport and north to Denton/Fort Marcinko -- took every bit of 3 1/2 hours. Roads went from slick to rough/rutted/ice holed with no warning. Never saw any evidence that anybody had thrown down sand or salt. And never went more than a couple of miles without seeing (at least) one car in the ditch or a spun-out big-rig. Nearly fishtailed off at least a dozen times myself.

Good times

DFW Remote North parking lot was completely iced over

And walking up to the car -- this was the exact point when I realized how much this was really gonna suck. My ice scraper is in the trunk, but the ice has frozen it shut. . .

About 1/4 inch of ice built up on the rear window. Took about 10 minutes to scrape off this much with my handy dandy emergency window breaker tool.

Accumulation was much heavier on the northern facing side of the car

And for some reason, even more so on the northwest side as it kept me from being able to get my driverside door open. Was able to get in from the passengerside (thankfully).

Yea, a little too much for the defogger to handle

Parking lot lights through the driverside door window

Obligatory foot on the ice shot

An hour later, finally had a hole scrapped out in the front window ice

The Remote North bus drivers should be getting quadruple pay tonight

Latest Denton Ice Storm

Some shots from todays ice storm. It was 85 degrees a couple of days ago -- today its 31. Ahh, the allure of a north texas winter. . .

The front bushes coated in ice. . .

. . . the front trees were not so bad. . and neither were the streets beyond. . .

. . .the ice collecting on the house. . .maybe a tenth of an inch stuck to the roof and fence. . .

. . .the city field was crunching when i walked through. . .

. . .the trees behind the house had more ice acculated, but not much more. . .

. . .this bush stands straight up when it's not weighted down by ice. . .

. . .some light ice on the woodpile. . .

. . .and on the dog house.

Snow Around Denton

Along with the Fort, all of Denton County was also burried in the freak snowstorm. These shots were taken when i got out to explore.

University of North Texas was burried. . .

. . .somebody has a sense of humor. . .

. . .UNT Clocktower covered with snow. . .

. . .snow covered UNT trees. . .

. . .Old Denton County Courthouse. dusted with the snow . .

. . .streets were slick, but not really icy since the concrete didnt have time to cool. . .

. . . snow covered railroad tracks in rural Denton County. . .

. . . still more snow. . .

. . .Denton County countryside was covered in snow blanketed trees and fences and ponds. . .

. . . the Greenbelt Corridor Park on Lake Ray Roberts was peacefully covered. . .

. . .as well as the Lake Ray Roberts Damn.