Saturday, December 27, 1997
Snow falls just in time to qualify for white
Christmas
By JONATHAN KRYDER and BOB BRUCE /
Abilene Reporter-News
If most of the city missed a white Christmas this year, it
was not because of a lack of snow.
About 10 p.m. Thursday, snowflakes began blanketing trees,
cars and homes.
By 7 a.m., the city was whitewashed by several inches of snow.
The National Weather Service reported two inches for Abilene.
Unofficial reports were as high as five.
Road crews hit the city streets about 2 a.m. Friday and worked
through the night spreading sand over bridges and high-traffic
areas.
Abilene police reported few accidents during the night, though
early morning drivers experienced some wet, sometimes slushy roads.
"It wasn't bad," said Joanne Bilskie, office coordinator
for the Abilene Street Department. "I went down South First
(about 6 a.m.). It wasn't slippery at all, I didn't think."
Many of those who didn't work Friday stepped outdoors during
the morning hours to enjoy the snow.
Dyess weather observer Nathaniel Payne drove to Redbud Park
to play in the snow with his two children, Emerald and Daniel.
"We're trying to make snowmen," Payne said as he
took the a snowball to the back of the head. "But we decided
it's more useful to throw it at the other person."
Payne said he was pleasantly surprised by how long the snow
stayed on the ground.
"Around here it usually melts before you can play in it,"
he said. Overnight snowfall also covered the rest of the Big Country.
Big Spring received 5-1/2 inches while Snyder had 5, Anson 4-1/2,
Colorado City and Clyde 4 inches each, and Haskell reported 3-4
inches.
Dusty Garison, Reporter---News correspondent in Haskell, said
the snowfall there amounted to about .28 of an inch.
Elsewhere, Baird had three to 4 inches of snow while Coleman,
Cross Plains, Eastland and Comanche reported an inch to 1-1/2
inches.
At Baird, Reporter-News correspondent Billy Harris said moisture
measured .30.
In Stephenville, reports ranged from 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches.
"Generally, the Big Country got about 2-4 inches,"
said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Deutschendorf
of San Angelo.
The snow was good for farms and ranches, said Elmdale rancher
Joe Antilley.
"It's beautiful for grass but rough on country roads,"
Antilley said.
Now all that's needed is a one-inch rainfall in 15 minutes
to create runoff for stock tanks, he said.
By noon Friday, Abilene temperatures rose above freezing, causing
icy waters to swell street gutters and frontyard snowmen to begin
melting.
Temperatures are forecast to climb today and Sunday, Deutschendorf
said, with Sunday's high nearing 55 degrees. He said the "warming
trend" will offer no more precipitation for the remainder
of the year.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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