DALLAS: More than 980 flights were canceled and nearly 800 more were delayed on Tuesday due to the ice brought on by the winter weather in Texas and the states nearby.
According to the Austin Fire Department, there were a lot of car accidents in Austin, Texas, at least one of which resulted in a fatality.
According to the tracking service FlightAware, more than 500 flights to or from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and nearly 125 flights to or from Dallas Love Field were either canceled or delayed on Tuesday. FlightAware reported that Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has canceled over 300 flights and delayed nearly 100 more.
According to meteorologist Marc Chenard of the National Weather Service, the storm started on Monday and was part of an expected "several rounds" of wintry precipitation that would last through Wednesday in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Chenard stated, "Generally light to moderate freezing rain resulting in some pretty significant amounts of ice."
Chenard says, "We're expecting ice accumulations potentially a quarter inch or higher as far south as Austin, Texas, up to Dallas, over to Little Rock, Arkansas, towards Memphis, Tennessee, and even getting close to Nashville, Tennessee." These accumulations could extend as far south as Dallas and Little Rock.
Following Southwest's meltdown in December, which began with a winter storm but continued after the majority of other airlines had recovered, the flight disruptions occurred. The Transportation Department of the United States is looking into Southwest's approximately 16,700 flight cancellations over the last ten days of the year.
A winter storm warning has been issued by the weather service for a significant portion of Texas and parts of southeastern Oklahoma, as well as an ice storm warning for the middle of Arkansas and western Tennessee.
Most of the rest of Arkansas and Tennessee, most of Kentucky, West Virginia, and the southern parts of Indiana and Ohio are under a winter weather advisory.
On Tuesday, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas were planning to either close or switch to virtual learning.