A shallow but very cold artic airmass spilled southward into the Southern Plains into the Lower Mississippi Valley. This airmass resulted in surface temperatures hovering near to slightly below freezing across portions of northeast Texas.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SHV wrote it up.
A shallow but very cold artic airmass spilled southward into the Southern Plains into the Lower Mississippi Valley. This airmass resulted in surface temperatures hovering near to slightly below freezing across portions of northeast Texas. A warm...moist airmass overran this shallow, colder air near the surface with light rain developing across the county. The light rain became freezing rain across portions of the region with ice accumulations below one quarter of an inch reported. The ice collected on trees and power lines as well as elevated bridges and overpasses. There were no power disruptions but a few minor accidents were reported across portions of northeast Texas.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 15, 11:07 AM CST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
1107 AM CST MON DEC 15 2008
.DISCUSSION...
ALREADY GETTING REPORTS OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN...MAINLY ALONG AND
NORTH OF THE I-30 CORRIDOR THIS MORNING SO WENT WITH A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY...MAINLY ALONG AND
NORTH OF A LINE FROM TYLER AND LONGVIEW TEXAS TO TEXARKANA AND
HOPE ARKANSAS. TYLER/LONGVIEW AND VICINITY SOUTH OF THE I-30
CORRIDOR CURRENTLY JUST ABOVE FREEZING BUT IT WAS JUST TOO CLOSE
A CALL NOT TO PUT THEM IN THE ADVISORY GIVEN THE COLD AIR
ADVECTION IN PLACE AS WELL AS THE TEMPERATURE/DEWPOINT SPREADS
JUST UPSTREAM OF NE TX WHICH COULD LEAD TO SOME WET-BULBING OF THE
TEMPERATURE. AMOUNTS IF ANY SHOULD BE LIGHT...WHICH MAY CAUSE SOME
TRAVEL PROBLEMS THROUGH THE DAY ON BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES.
THE BIGGER HEADACHE WILL BE TONIGHT WITH TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TO
DROP TO NEAR FREEZING OR COLDER JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE WITH LIGHT
RAIN OVERSPREADING THE REGION IN GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFT PATTERN OVER
TOP THIS COLD LOW LEVEL AIRMASS. WILL ADJUST THIS PORTION OF THE
FORECAST IN THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE AND DISCUSS ANY POSSIBLE
UPGRADES OF OUR CURRENT ADVISORY TO A WARNING WITH THE 400 PM
PACKAGE.
UPDATED ZFP...WSW ALREADY SENT...13.
&&
.AVIATION...
COLD FRONT HAS MOVED THROUGH MOST ALL OF THE TAF SITES...SHIFTING
THE WINDS TO THE NORTH AT 10 TO 20 KTS. MOISTURE IS BEGINNING TO
OVERRUN THE MOISTURE CAUSING SCATTERED SHOWERS TO DEVELOP OVER THE
AREAS. CIGS WILL BE MOSTLY MVFR TODAY...BUT SOME CASES OF IFR CIGS
MAY CONTINUE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. BRIEF MVFR VSBYS
WILL CONTINUE IN RAIN AND FOG AREAS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT. /03/
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
SHV 43 30 42 41 54 / 30 50 50 40 30
MLU 51 30 45 43 53 / 50 40 40 40 30
DEQ 32 29 36 35 48 / 30 40 40 40 30
TXK 37 28 39 38 51 / 30 50 50 40 30
ELD 41 29 42 41 50 / 50 50 50 40 30
TYR 33 30 39 38 56 / 30 50 50 40 30
GGG 36 30 40 39 55 / 30 50 50 40 30
LFK 41 33 43 42 60 / 30 50 50 40 30
&&
.SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AR...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM CST
TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: ARZ061-071>073.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM CST TUESDAY FOR THE
FOLLOWING ZONES: ARZ050-051-059-060-070.
LA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM CST
TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: LAZ001>006-010>012.
OK...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM CST TUESDAY FOR THE
FOLLOWING ZONES: OKZ077.
TX...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM CST
TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: TXZ138-149>153-165.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM CST TUESDAY FOR THE
FOLLOWING ZONES: TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136-137.
&&
13/04HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1200 PM CST MON DEC 15 2008 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096- 097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-161200- ANGELINA-BIENVILLE-BOSSIER-BOWIE-CADDO-CALDWELL-CAMP-CASS-CHEROKEE- CLAIBORNE-COLUMBIA-DE SOTO-FRANKLIN-GRANT-GREGG-HARRISON-HEMPSTEAD- HOWARD-JACKSON-LA SALLE-LAFAYETTE-LINCOLN-LITTLE RIVER-MARION- MCCURTAIN-MILLER-MORRIS-NACOGDOCHES-NATCHITOCHES-NEVADA-OUACHITA- PANOLA-RED RIVER LA-RED RIVER TX-RUSK-SABINE LA-SABINE TX- SAN AUGUSTINE-SEVIER-SHELBY-SMITH-TITUS-UNION AR-UNION LA-UPSHUR- WEBSTER-WINN-WOOD- 1200 PM CST MON DEC 15 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA... SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTHEAST TEXAS AND FOR NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... AN ICE STORM WILL BEGIN MATERIALIZING ACROSS THE FOUR STATE REGION THIS EVENING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. A STRONG COLD FRONT HAS PROVIDED THE COLD AIR AT THE SURFACE WITH OVERRUNNING RAINFALL EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION. AFTER SUNSET...TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY FALL NEAR TO BELOW FREEZING...ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS AND NORTHWEST LOUISIANA. ONCE TEMPERATURES FALL BELOW FREEZING...RAIN WILL BECOME FREEZING RAIN ACROSS THE REGION WITH TREACHEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS LIKELY THE RESULT. BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES WILL BE THE FIRST TO FREEZE OVER ALONG WITH OTHER ELEVATED OBJECTS. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION AS WE TRANSITION INTO THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS FOR THIS POSSIBILITY OF A DEVELOPING ICE STORM ACROSS THE FOUR STATE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... COLD ARCTIC AIR WILL REMAIN OVER THE FOUR STATE REGION INTO MID WEEK WITH MOISTURE RIDING OVER THE SYSTEM RESULTING IN RAIN. FREEZING TEMPERATURES WILL RESULT IN WINTER WEATHER FOR MUCH OF THE AREA EARLY TUESDAY MORNING UNTIL THE TEMPERATURES WARM ABOVE FREEZING. ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIGHT IN TREES...ON POWER LINES...AND ELEVATED SURFACES. A WARM FRONT IS EXPECTED TO LIFT BACK ACROSS THE REGION LATER IN THE WEEK BUT THIS FRONT WILL BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY WITH MAINLY RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ON THURSDAY. A COLD FRONT WILL RETURN ON FRIDAY BUT NOT EXPECTED TO RETURN FREEZING TEMPERATURES. ANOTHER COLD ARCTIC AIRMASS LOOKS TO RETURN DURING THE LATE WEEKEND AND INTO THE EARLY PART OF THE CHRISTMAS WEEK WITH SUB FREEZING TEMPERATURES RETURNING ALONG WITH POSSIBLE WINTER PRECIPITATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS WILL NOT BE NEEDED FOR SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS...HOWEVER POSSIBLE FREEZING RAIN OCCURRENCE MAY REQUIRE ATTENTION. 13
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Icing was reported on bridges and overpasses on State Highway 82, State Highway 37 and U.S. 271. Ice was also reported on the loop in Clarksville, Texas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, December 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 139765.