Winter Storm in Texas, January 11 to 14, 1997

A second strong cold front moved into central Texas on the evening of Friday, January 10th, and again temperatures began to drop steadily across the area. Again, an upper level disturbance moving through the southwestern U.S. began to form widespread rain and showers as it approached south Texas on Saturday the 11th. By that evening, rain had begun to change to freezing rain across the Hill Country. By early Sunday morning, driving had become hazardous across the Hill Country. By Sunday evening, the wintery mixture of sleet and freezing rain had spread across the Austin and San Antonio metropolitan area. By early on the morning of Monday, Jnauary 13th, the precipitation had become primarily snow across the Hill Country and Austin area with freezing rain and sleet continuing over the Del Rio and San Antonio areas and eastward. Precipitation began to taper off during Monday evening, with only very light amounts of sleet or freezing rain being reported in South Central Texas from Monday evening into Tuesday morning. Many schools and businesses from the Hill Country eastward past San Marcos, Austin and Georgetown and southeastward as far as Giddings, Luling, Gonzales, LaGrange, and Cuero were closed on Monday, with some schools remaining closed again on Tuesday. Ice caused problems on bridges and overpasses as far south as Interstate 10 eastward from San Antonio beyond Luling to the Schulenburg area, with many automobile and truck accidents reported. However, in general, ice accumulations in this storm were lower than with the earlier storm this month. Power outages were reported by around 2000 residents, with power generally restored the same day.