Winter Weather — Tarrant, Texas

2021-02-11 · Tarrant, Texas

Event narrative

Law enforcement reported a 133 vehicle pile-up, including tractor trailers, along the Interstate 35W south express lanes resulted in 6 deaths and 101 injuries in the city of Fort Worth, TX. The accident occurred along a half-mile icy patch between NE 28th Street and Northside Drive.

Wider weather episode

February 9th, 2021 was the beginning of what would become a historic winter weather event across the state of Texas, with multiple rounds of winter precipitation and deadly cold temperatures. The prolonged event began with freezing drizzle that contributed to several vehicle accidents in the region. Most notable of the accidents, a 133 vehicle pileup occurred within the express lanes of I-35W in Fort Worth, due to icy roads. The incident resulted in 6 fatalities and over 100 injuries. A few other fatal accidents were also reported due to the icy roads. The first significant wave of winter precipitation occurred on February 11th-12th with freezing rain and sleet falling across most of the area along and east of a line from Goldthwaite to Fort Worth to Sherman. Across Central Texas, up to half an inch of ice and sleet was measured in several counties. A few other fatal accidents were reported on icy roadways, bringing this first event total to 13 weather related deaths. Damage estimates from this event are still ongoing and were largely consolidated by each jurisdiction for the entire winter event. Therefore, total damage estimates as of this publication have been included in the February 13th-19th Episode for each county where available.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 941532. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.