Winter weather headed for Dallas-Fort Worth area

**Updated at 10:30 p.m. CT **

Jason Sickles, Yahoo! Dallas Editor

It looks like our guests from Pittsburgh and Green Bay are bringing a big dose of winter weather with them.

Super Bowl week will start off just fine, with Monday's high temperature forecast to be in the low 60s. But then comes a chance of freezing rain, sleet, snow, and what the National Weather Service in Fort Worth on Sunday called "some of the coldest temperatures in years".

The details from a National Weather Service advisory on Sunday evening (with highlights in bold):

"...Wintry week ahead for North Texas...

An arctic cold front will move into North Texas Monday evening ... and sweep through all of North Texas by mid-morning Tuesday. Temperatures will fall throughout the day Tuesday ... with afternoon readings dropping into the teens in areas northwest of Fort Worth. All of North Texas is expected to be below freezing by Tuesday evening. The northwestern half of North Texas may remain below freezing until Friday.

Freezing rain and sleet will impact much of North Texas on Tuesday. The activity may transition to snow late in the morning north of I-20. A winter storm watch is in effect generally along and northwest of a line from Breckenridge ... to Mineral Wells ... to Gainesville ... where accumulations of sleet may exceed 1/2 inch. Additional ice and snow accumulation may occur just southeast of the watch area and winter weather advisories will be issued tomorrow for more of the area.

Gusty north winds will combine with the frigid temperatures to produce wind chills in the single digits and teens Tuesday and Wednesday. Wind chills may fall below zero Tuesday night into Wednesday morning across the northwestern half of North Texas.

Snow flurries will be possible on Wednesday ... with a chance of more significant snowfall on Friday.

During extended outbreaks of cold weather ... it is always advisable to be proactive and protect exposed pipes with insulating material ... and to leave a water faucet slowly dripping overnight. Outdoor pets should be provided appropriate shelter ... and residents are encouraged to dress in layers to avoid the impacts of cold temperatures and wind chills. Anytime temperatures are expected to fall below freezing ... turn off automatic sprinklers. Sprinkler systems running in sub-freezing temperatures can create hazardous driving conditions."

It's been a while since Dallas-Fort Worth has experienced the kind of winter storm being discussed. According to weather tracker Paul Ruekberg at NewsWatch Dallas, the last significant ice storm in North Texas was on Dec. 7, 2005. That's when an arctic front dropped temperatures into the teens and brought three-tenths of an inch of sleet and freezing rain to DFW.

A high temperature of 28 degrees on Feb. 25, 2003 was the last time Dallas recorded a high in the 20s. Ruekberg says the last time DFW was at or below freezing for more than 72 hours was an 80-hour stretch from Jan. 13-18, 2007.

Looks like our guests from Pittsburg and Green Bay are bringing a big dose of winter weather with them.

Super Bowl week will start off just fine, with Monday's high temperature forecasted to be in the low 60s.

But then comes a chance of freezing rain, sleet and snow along with what the National Weather Service in Fort Worth calls "some of the coldest temperatures in years".

Here's the fine print from the National Weather Service with highlights in bold:

"An arctic cold front will move into northwest north Texas after midnight Monday night. The cold front will move through the rest of North Texas by midday Tuesday. Temperatures will begin falling late Monday night and continue falling throughout the day Tuesday. Most of

North Texas is forecasted to be below freezing by Tuesday evening.

Temperatures are not expected to warm above freezing area-wide until

Friday.

Regarding the timing for winter weather Tuesday ... locations along and

Northwest of a line from Eastland to Mineral Wells to Bowie could see a mix of freezing rain and sleet by daybreak Tuesday. The wintry mix transition line is expected to reach a Paris ... Hillsboro ... Goldthwaite line ... including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex ... by

late morning. By mid-afternoon ... the transition line will likely reach an Athens ... to Waco ... to Lampasas line. A transition over to

mostly snow or snow and sleet is expected north of I-20 during the afternoon. The wintry precipitation will rapidly end from west to east during afternoon Tuesday.

Additionally ... gusty north winds will combine with the cold temperatures to produce wind chills in the teens and 20s by Tuesday

afternoon. Wind chills Wednesday morning will fall into the single

digits to below zero over the northwest half of North Texas.

Significant uncertainty remains regarding timing ... types of winter precipitation ... and accumulation amounts on Tuesday. However ...

current forecast data indicates areas of significant ice ... sleet or

snow accumulations are possible. The amount of ice and snow accumulations will depend on how fast temperatures drop below freezing and how fast the precipitation moves off to the east Tuesday afternoon.

The details and potential impacts of this winter weather event are still being determined and will be better resolved during the next few days. A winter storm watch will likely be issued for part of North Texas in the next 24 hours."