The freezing rain and sleet are affecting more than just school closures and canceled classes.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there has been a major accident at Irving Boulevard and E. Crosstimbers Road.
TxDOT is starting sanding operations over patches of ice on Highway 290 westbound and Highway 6 in the Hempstead area.
Icy conditions have also been reported at I-10 and Beltway 8 and SH-146 at the Fred Hartman Bridge. The bridge is open at this time, but TxDOT employees are still treating the road, according to Click2Houston.com.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the icy precipitation is expected to end by early afternoon, but the city of Pasadena announced that both library locations will shut down at 5 p.m., and another article reports that more than 350 flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport were canceled today because of the weather.
However, the IAH Weather Forecast claims that the rest of the day shows a 20 percent chance of light freezing rain and sleet and little to no sleet accumulation. IAH expects new ice accumulation of less than one-tenth of an inch in the afternoon. Tonight is expected to be partly cloudy to mostly cloudy with lows in the mid-20s and north winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour.
IAH’s real-time delay tracker shows the airline is having excessive delays and has been de-icing since 7 a.m. today. De-icing involves spraying chemicals on the airplane to keep it safe for travel in cold weather.
Hobby Airport is showing similar statistics.
According to Executive Director of UH Media Relations Richard Bonnin, Provost Paula Short is responsible for deciding whether students will have to make up for the class days missed because of weather. The provost is currently unavailable to be questioned.
