By Bill Miller and Lance Murray
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth police have responded to 134 traffic accidents since midnight, many no doubt attributed to slick road conditions caused by a rare dose of freezing fog, officials said.
The accidents — the latest tally was given at 9 a.m. — included 28 major wrecks on Fort Worth’s streets and highways, along with 98 minor crunches, a police dispatcher said. Police also responded to eight hit-and-run accidents, the dispatcher said.
Ambulance crews responded to 42 accidents since midnight, but at 9 a.m. it was unclear how many people were actually taken to hospitals, a dispatcher for MedStar Ambulance Service said.
The wrecks snarled the morning commute in Fort Worth and Arlington, although only a few problems were reported in northeast Tarrant County. No major problems were reported in Johnson and Parker Counties.
An earlier accident on southbound I-35W at Alliance Gateway was cleared, according to Traffic.com.
In Grapevine, an accident on northbound Texas 26 past Ruth Wall was reported.
In Fort Worth, an accident on Interstate 30 at east Loop 820 was causing problems, and another crash on westbound Interstate 20 just past Loop 820 caused slowdowns as well. A wreck was reported on NE 28th at Main Street, and a crash also was reported on westbound Loop 820 just past Blue Mound Road.
In Arlington, the interchange between Interstate 20 and Texas 360 was closed for a couple of hours due to icing. Sand trucks were called in. It was cleared about 8 a.m.
Major accidents were reported at 6:52 a.m. at South Cooper and Oak Village Boulevard and at 7:04 a.m. at South Cooper and westbound I-20.
There was a hit-and-run incident at 7:49 a.m. at South Cooper and Oak Village Boulevard. Two trucks went spinning out of control at eastbound I-20 and Bowman Springs about 8 a.m.
No serious injuries were reported in Arlington.
The weather service first noticed problems at about 2:30 a.m., and so did the Texas Department of Transportation.
“We’re still sanding, and we’ve been out there since 3:30 this morning,” said Val Lopez, TxDOT spokesman in Fort Worth. “Anytime it gets dicey, we have crews at the facility ready to roll out, and such was the case this morning.
“We have something like 45 vehicles, and all of them are probably out there and have been awhile.”
TxDOT, however, could not pre-treat bridges and overpasses with ice-breaking magnesium chloride because it was raining Wednesday night, Lopez said.
“We got, like, a half of inch of rain,” he said. “It’s difficult to pre-treat during a driving rain, because it washes off.”
Freezing fog is rare, said Nick Hampshire, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
A key ingredient is the dew point, which is the temperature at which air needs to be to form dew.
“But, when temperatures cool down to what the dew point is, that causes condensation, which is fog,” Hampshire explained. “And, when it comes in contact with any surface that’s below freezing, it freezes.
“That includes bridges, overpasses and cars -- things with no insulation underneath them.”
But freezing fog is unusual in North Texas, Hampshire explained, “because in the winter time, you rarely cool down to the dew points.”
This morning, however, was “the perfect scenario” for freezing fog, Hampshire said.
After recording .56 inches of rain Wednesday, clouds shifted to the east, leaving clear skies and dew points in the low 30s, he said.
“But we have good high pressure at the surface, not leaving any high winds,” he said.
Meanwhile, the temperature was only 30 degrees this morning, which is below freezing and about the same as the dew point. The result: freezing fog.
It was expected to burn off, however, by about 10 a.m., Hampshire said. That should leave sunny skies today with highs near 60, the weather service said.
But don’t put away the winter duds just yet, or the rain gear, either.
This weekend — what should be a busy weekend for holiday shoppers — will be cold and rainy again, Hampshire said, because an upper level low-pressure system is expected to drop down from Colorado on Friday.
“We have plenty of moisture in place,” he said, “which is going to give us a pretty good shot at rain; no thunderstorms, but showers.”
Highs will be in the mid 40s Friday and Saturday, but there will be a clearing on Sunday, which will see a high of around 50.
Staff Writers Elizabeth Campbell. Paul Bourgeois and Domingo Ramirez Jr. contributed to this report.