Snow Day Blankets Freestone County

Three words that Texans in Freestone County are not used to are, “Winter Weather Warning,” and they were not kidding with all the snow that feel to the ground leaving us with a shocking amount of snow.

Barney Leach, a local weather volunteer, discovered that the average and what records will show, was a total of 3.5 inches of snow.

Leach said, “This is the first time I have measured over three inches at one time since I began as a weather volunteer in December of 1993.”

Social Media was overwhelmed with picturesque images of snowfall, children proudly displaying their snowmen, and so many other variants of snow pictures.

It was clear that Freestone County was excited and enjoying this unusual level of winter weather as the snow piled up.

Unfortunately, snow is heavy when it piles up, so heavy in fact that it can break tree limbs. Those tree limbs can then fall, right onto power lines.

Which is what started happening all over Freestone County, as more and more power lines snapped the service calls increased.

Oncor Area Manager Brenda Walker explained that at the time of the conversation, noon Monday, January 11, 2021, approximately 500 customers were without power in the area.

They were actively working to restore power to the area at that time.
A visit to https://stormcenter.oncor.com/external/default.html/ can help people get a better idea of reported outages.

If you do see a downed power line, STAY AWAY, keep traffic away and report it to 911.

Be aware that emergency services are not trained or equipped to handle high voltage electrical currents like you see in a downed line.

Another issue that arose was the sheer number of vehicular accidents on the roadways as the snow fell.

While an exact number has not currently been obtained, first responders were kept busy due to all the accidents that were occurring, even with the Freestone County Sheriff’s Department asking people to, “stay put,” on their social media page.

All in all, even with the problems that arose, this day was what some would describe as beautiful. Other’s even compared it to a sense of washing things clean.

The taste of northern weather was a real treat, with many learning what it is like to have a real snow fall.

I am personally horrified and shell-shocked that so much snow fell in this part of Texas, as I absolutely hate being cold.

Enjoy all the pictures in this edition of The Times from all across Freestone County!

Thanks to Jennifer Lansford and Shae Garcia for the pictures, and all our readers for their contributions.