I Predict Super Bowl Week In The 817 Will End With A Massive Traffic Jam

I was not able to get this week's FW Weekly til the Big Thaw occurred on Saturday. I suspect that was true for a lot of FW Weekly readers.

Judging by the cover it appears this week's FW Weekly focuses on the Super Bowl. I did not get around to reading it til this morning, to find, in this case, judging by the cover is a correct judgement.

Much of what is inside the cover of FW Weekly was rendered a bit ironic due to how Super Bowl week actually played out.

Like an article titled "From Sundance to the World" with a Fort Worth Star-Telegram level of almost breathless puffery, all atwitter that the world was coming to downtown Fort Worth courtesy of ESPN, saying ESPN reaches about 100 million U.S. households with ESPN International reaching 53 million more in 59 other countries.

I think more properly stated ESPN is a channel on various cable networks, with those cable networks reaching a total of 153 million households worldwide.

FW Weekly can't really be thinking that downtown Fort Worth has been seen this week in 153 million houses worldwide. If that did happen the world was not seeing the type images that makes a Chamber of Commerce happy.

After going down to check out the Super Bowl zone again, yesterday, along with thousands of others finally able to escape the Big Freeze and its Big Snow, and thinking about what I saw, I think we may be seeing one more weather related debacle today.

Yesterday the traffic coming from the east on I-30 was jammed up trying to get off the freeway to get to the Ballpark/Stadium area. This was around 3 in the afternoon.

Traffic was backed up all around the stadium area. On the south side of the stadium I saw the longest line of taxis I've ever seen. All stuck in the traffic jam.

I read today that a lot of Pittsburgh Steeler fans fly in to the Super Bowl city any time the Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Even if they don't have a ticket. I talked to several of those yesterday. The Steeler fans were easy to spot, many with cheese on their head.

I do not believe an event has taken place in Cowboys Stadium where the ticket holders get shuffled through a long security tent to get into the stadium.

I believe this will be the largest crowd to have attended an event in the stadium.

What I think may happen today is, just like yesterday, there will be a lot of formerly snowbound locals who decide to try to check out the Super Bowl. There will be no places for them to park, unless they want to pay an exorbitant fee. You'll have all the game goers arriving, by taxi or whatever means. I assume the Arlington trolley buses will be in the mix.

What I saw yesterday was a situation where traffic was not moving well. I think it will be much worse today.

So, that is my prediction for the day. The Final Debacle of Super Bowl Week and Super Bowl XLV will be a monster traffic jam with game goers not able to get into the stadium before the game starts.

Keep in mind, if you find this prediction unsettling, I am usually wrong whenever I predict anything.

Snow Is Forecast For The Super Bowl With A New Arctic Blast Heading To North Texas On Tuesday

It is first Sunday of the 2nd month of 2011. It is also the first day of February that has started above freezing.

The Super Bowl starts up in around 9 hours and 32 minutes. The Dallas Morning News conveniently has a Super Bowl Countdown Clock on their home page.

I've not seen a Super Bowl Countdown Clock on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's home page. But, unlike the Dallas paper the Star-Telegram's home page is pretty much all about the Super Bowl.

As you can see via the view from my patio viewing platform, most of the snow and ice has melted.

However, snow is in the forecast for today. I really don't see that happening.

But, the National Weather Service has issued one of its SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS. And in that statement we learn that another Arctic cold front will be arriving in North Texas on Tuesday, putting us back in the Deep Freeze and bringing with it more sleet and snow. The SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT is below, all in capitals, which I've mentioned before is Internet-speak for shouting. The National Weather Service should no better than to shout.

...WINTRY PRECIPITATION LIKELY WEDNESDAY...

A STRONG ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTH TEXAS TUESDAY NIGHT...BRINGING A GOOD CHANCE OF WINTRY PRECIPITATION LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

AN UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES ON TUESDAY AND MOVE EAST ACROSS OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS ON WEDNESDAY. WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION WILL AFFECT MUCH OF NORTH TEXAS TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. THE PRECIPITATION WILL START AS RAIN OR FREEZING RAIN...AND MAY TRANSITION TO SLEET AND SNOW. SURFACE TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE BELOW FREEZING DURING MUCH OF THE PRECIPITATION EVENT...WHICH WOULD RESULT IN ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE AND SNOW.

THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO TRAVEL. IF YOU ARE PLANNING TRAVEL ACROSS NORTH TEXAS OR SURROUNDING AREAS ON WEDNESDAY...CHECK THE LATEST FORECASTS BEFORE DEPARTING.

A Visit To The Dallas Cowboys Stadium The Day Before The Super Bowl Along With Thousands Of Other Visitors Finds People On The Stadium Roof

I headed to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium around 3 this afternoon.

I figured with our sudden thaw and return to semi-pleasant temperatures, that there would be a few people out and about.

Well, it was more than a few. Really bad traffic all around the stadium. Throngs of people. No event taking place besides tomorrow's Super Bowl. Near as I could find out.

I quickly realized how bad the traffic was and bailed on getting stuck going west on Randol Mill by the Stadium Wal-Mart. Later I was to see how lucky I was to avoid that traffic jam. The Ballpark in Arlington parking lots were open to the public. Free. I thought that was a nice touch for Arlington to do. If it was Arlington that did it.

Eventually I parked. I soon asked a couple of people if there was some event happening. They said they'd just come to check out the Super Bowl. Eventually I asked a cop the same question. He told me nothing was going on, that it was just people, like me, coming to check out the Super Bowl scene the day before the Super Bowl.

The first picture, at the top is interesting. I have no idea why there were people on the edge of the roof of the stadium. It looks like a helicopter is heading towards them. Being on that roof seemed a bit dicey, what with the fact that yesterday ice and snow was falling off it, hurting people. You could see there was still snow/ice on edge of the roof.

The Cowboys Stadium Wal-Mart Supercenter, across the street from the stadium, has taken some mocking heat in the national press covering the Super Bowl.

I've long thought it looked ridiculous. Somewhere on this computer I have a picture of the Wal-Mart, taken from the perspective of the stadium. It would take me way too long to find that picture.

Today the Stadium Wal-Mart was looking especially tacky due to the addition of porta-potties.

I assume the porta-potties were installed for the convenience of all the cops who appeared to be guarding the parking lot. I asked one of those cops about the huge crowd and he said it had been like this all day. And would be worse tomorrow. And he was glad he would not be on duty.

This particular Wal-Mart is very strict about anyone using their parking lot to park in to attend any event in the  stadium across the street.

The Wal-Mart is already prepared for tomorrow's parking problems, with the sticking of a sign on the sidewalk that runs along Randol Mill Road that separates the Wal-Mart from Cowboys Stadium.

The sign says, "This parking lot is for Walmart customer parking only. If you park your vehicle to attend games or events, your vehicle may be towed at your expense. Thank you."

Doesn't Arlington have any city code type thing that prohibits sticking a sign like this on a public sidewalk?

One more exciting thing. As I walked across the pedestrian/golf cart bridge that crosses Johnson Creek to the parking lots on the east side of the creek, a golf cart passed by with 4 people on board, one of whom had people pointing and saying that is Jimmy Johnson on board.

I also recognized him. From watching him on Survivor.

Prior to seeing him on Survivor I knew nothing of him coaching the Dallas Cowboys back, long ago, when they actually won games and got to play in Super Bowls.

Is Johnson Creek named for Jimmy Johnson, I just this second found myself wondering?

We Almost Got To 60 In Fort Worth Today Causing Melting Snowmen But No Other Woes

The high today got much higher than the predicted high, with predictable results. As in most of the ice and snow has melted.

With the return of pleasant temperatures and the removal of that annoying slippery stuff the people of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex were able to finally escape their hunkered, bunkered down week and get out for some Super Bowl fun. More on that later.

But, before I blog about the Super Bowl fun in a subsequent blogging I must report on the sad demise of someone I showed you yesterday.

Above a proud snowman, or woman, I wasn't quite sure, was born yesterday, and seemed to enjoy basking in the icy cold.

And then today, when I left to go to Town Talk, around noon, I was shocked to pass by the Snowman or woman to find he or she had either been brutally attacked and dismembered. Or the heat was too much, causing a collapse.

My guess, even though I am no CSI, but judging by the look of the crime scene and the fact that the Snowman or woman was still cold in the shade, that this was an act of pre-mediated murder. Probably the same criminals who stole my bike.

The Super Bowl Big Chill Has Ended As The Big Melt Begins

We are above freezing for the first time since Monday, here in my formerly frigid zone of North Texas. I don't know how long we've been melting. A couple minutes ago I saw the temperature on my computer screen was 36. I checked another weather info source to confirm this was not a fluke.

I stepped outside to take a picture of the melting snow to hear a lot of dripping and cracking noises. I suspect the ice will be off the roads earlier than I thought it would.

Which means I will be going to Town Talk in a little while. But I am not going to attempt to go hiking at any of my regular Saturday hiking venues. That will need to wait for some more melting and drying.

I heard from Elsie Hotpepper this morning that the area of the D/FW Metroplex that she is currently broadcasting from is currently without power. It is not due to a Rolling Blackout.

As the temperature rises I suspect there will be some more pipes leaking water and a lot of very busy plumbers. I hope no new chunks of ice have plummeted from the Cowboys Stadium on to innocent bystanders.

Can those Party Pass People get refunds of the $200 they paid to stand outside Cowboys Stadium during the Super Bowl, what with it possibly snowing and being cold?

Dallas/Arlington/Fort Worth North Texas Super Bowl Has Turned In To A Worst Case Scenario Disaster In Multiple Ways

The above is a screen cap from this morning's Dallas Morning News. It about sums up the current Super Bowl status.

When it was announced that the Super Bowl had been awarded to Dallas. I mean, Arlington, with all the hoopla about what a boon this would be, image-wise and economic-wise, I opined on this very blog that when the national media got a look at the new Cowboy Stadium and its humdrum location surrounded by urban blight on 2 sides, that the exposure would not result in the good press that the locals were expecting.

Well, there have been some big events in the new stadium without, as far as I've noticed, my predicted bad publicity.

Til now. With the biggest event to be held in North Texas, ever, happening tomorrow. With what is being said about Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth and North Texas not being all that flattering.

Arlington was described in the New York Times as drab and featureless. Multiple writers have made fun of the stadium sitting across the street from a Wal-Mart.

The Ice and Snow Storms factor in to a lot of the bad publicity for North Texas.

An ESPN writer wondered what Jerry Jones did to Mother Nature's daughter.

A Denver Post columnist wondered what the North Texas Super Bowl Weather Disaster does to the NFL's long standing argument that a town like Denver can't host a Super Bowl.

I also wondered the same thing. But substituted Seattle for Denver. If tomorrow's Super Bowl was taking place in Seattle, the air would be heated to around 50 degrees. With the only snow being in the surrounding mountains. All events could take place right in Seattle's downtown. Adjacent to Seahawk Stadium is an Exhibition Hall with more display space than the demolished Kingdome. With mass transit, in the form of light rail and buses, delivering fans right to where the Super Bowl would be played, if it were played in Seattle.

A Sport Illustrated writer Twittered  about the North Texas mess Tweetng, "I'm telling you: I-30 between Dallas + Fort Worth is a plow-less, snow-windswept moonscape. This is officially a debacle."

NPR's Jim Rome said, "6 inches of snow? Really, Dallas? Good luck getting another Super Bowl."

On Friday chunks of ice and snow fell from the roof of Cowboys Stadium injuring 6 people, sending some to the hospital. One, photographer Win McNamee, was hit in the shoulder by ice, breaking it in 4 places.

And now the earlier optimistic forecast for better weather on the day of the Super Bowl has turned pessimistic, with a prediction of much colder temperatures and more snow possible....

Finally Able To Drive And Forage For Food In Texas With Broken Pipe Disasters, White Zinfandel & Snowman Sculpturing

Just when I was about to run out of food, the sun appeared and did some snow and ice melting. By 2 in the afternoon I was able to easily navigate roads without sliding.

Miss Puerto Rico, she being from an island without snow, does not like driving on the white, slippery stuff. She was desperately in need of something called White Zinfandel.

So, I told Miss Puerto Rico if I made it out of here I would get her some of that White Zinfandel stuff she needed.

That is my hand on the wheel, heading east on John T. White Road to my local neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Ironically, the week began with me driving to that same Wal-Mart, last Monday, to see the store thronged with panicked people stocking up on supplies. Had I known it would be clear til Friday that I could make it back to Wal-Mart I would have been one of the panicked people stocking up on supplies on Monday.

Today I learned, via his blog, that Gar the Texan, has been snowbound all week in Flower Mound. He too did not stock up on supplies and was running low on vittles by today. I don't know if he made it out today. He lives very close to the Flower Mound Sprouts Farmers Market.

When I got back from Wal-Mart, I delivered to Miss Puerto Rico's abode her White Zinfandel. I then took a picture of the melting snowy view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony. Then I headed back to Miss Puerto Rico's office to tell her the delivery had been made.

I was in Miss Puerto Rico's office when a lady ran in, crying, sobbing that water was flooding into her apartment. There were several people in the office. I asked Miss PR if there was anything I could do.

She asked if I'd go check and see how bad the flood was.

And so I did. It was real bad. Several inches of water all over with a waterfall of water running down the bedroom wall with the ceiling collapsed. I ran back to Miss Puerto Rico to tell her it was real bad, as in a disaster.

Soon I found myself helping move stuff to a display apartment. After awhile I felt I was of no more use, so I walked back to the office zone and saw a guy looking perplexed. I asked if he needed help. He told me he'd been trying to call the Emergency Number, to no avail.

He told me that the laundry was flooding and the ceiling collapsed. I went to tell Miss PR. We then drove to check that out. I'd never seen anything like it. A flood of water running out of the laundry room, with chunks of ceiling falling.

Then we opened the door to the boiler room to see about a foot of water rushing like a river. With chunks of the ceiling falling. Miss PR turned off the hot water somehow, but that only stopped part of the flood.

Then several phone calls took place to plumbers.

Soon after that a call about another break.

And now the water has been cut off at the main, with about a 3 block area without water. Including me.

Miss Puerto Rico says this is the worst disaster in all the time she has been in Texas managing these type disasters.

On a happy note, in the middle of all this I saw a guy making a snowman. Using a novel method. He was filling a bucket with snow, packing it down, and then building the snowman from the resulting pile of cylinders, which he then sculpted.

I stopped and complimented the guy on his impressive snowman engineering technique. He told me he'd never made a snowman before and wanted to make one with his son. Because, he said, who knows when we'll see snow in Texas again.

Well, according to the current forecast, I believe we are scheduled for more possible snow next week.

More Snow On Day 4 Of Being Snowbound In Texas

Around 11 the snow stopped falling. While it was falling I was out in it. That is one of my motorized vehicular devices you see covered with a thick white substance.

The white substance was very powdery, so I easily removed it.

Walking in the 6 inches of snow was a lot easier than dealing with walking on ice. But, I had an incident or two where I nearly slipped into falling mode.

I took several pictures to take you on a virtual tour of my latest Texas Snow Day.

Looking out at the pool it is hard to believe I used to swim in that thing. It looks very cold currently.

The icicle I showed you yesterday now is surrounded by a ring of snow.

Above I'm up by Albertsons, looking down on Boca Raton Boulevard. The van on the right is stuck.

To the left of the view of the stuck van is a couple rows of parked, snow-covered cars. I don't know if they are stuck.

That is the Super Bowl Buffet on the right, with a truck and a car going slow on the Loop 820 Interstate. It does not appear that the Super Bowl Buffet is open today.

On the south side of the Super Bowl Buffet looking across the parking lot at Albertsons, which is open.

Currently it is 22 degrees out there. I think that's the warmest it has been for days. The sun seems to be trying to break through the clouds. Some sun might help warm things up a bit. And cause melting, which will then freeze again into a slippery, icy mess.

It is days like this that cause me to miss the temperature, moderate, easy going weather of Western Washington.

I called my mom this morning while I was out playing in the snow. Mom politely listened to me whine about the weather and then told me it was me who chose to move to this place. Phoenix froze last night, down to 26, according to my mom.

Miss Puerto Rico just called to tell me she is out of essential groceries. I told her I'd go on an emergency essentials hunt at Albertsons this afternoon.

Weather Alert With Snow Falling Again In North Texas 2 Days Before The Super Snow Bowl

I was hoping today, the 4th day of the 2nd month of 2011 would bring some relief from the ice and snow and cold.

Maybe as this Friday progresses we will get above freezing. But right now, coming up on 8 in the morning, it is 19 degrees with some form of frozen precipitation falling.

The frozen precipitation is being like icy droplets of fog. Not snow. But, snow did fall overnight, coating every surface once more in white.

Early this morning the National Weather Service had this to say...

"A localized band of heavy snow has developed over the eastern parts of the DFW metroplex with snowfall totals reaching 4-5 inches over Dallas. Snowfall through the next few hours is expected to be light to occasionally moderate, but additional totals of 1 to 2 inches are possible."

Below are some blurbs from the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram about our latest day of  freezing in North Texas...

Great. According to the above forecast by 6pm today we  are still well below freezing. Which I guess means the roads will remain nothing I want to be out driving on. I should have stocked up on more food when I saw so many people doing so on Monday when I was in Wal-Mart. Apparently the longtime locals knew more than I did.

I wonder how many decades it will be before the NFL decides to play another Super Bowl in Arlington? I suspect that may never happen until all sorts of new facilities are built around Cowboys Stadium so that all the Super Bowl activity can take place in one location, rather than spread out over a very large area.

ESPN probably will never return to downtown Fort Worth. Such a sad turn of events. Large crowds were expected, instead the opposite has happened, with that reality captured by a picture and a sentence in this morning's Star-Telegram, with the caption under the picture of a single person standing on an empty parking saying, "A lone fan wandered through the winter wonderland that was Sundance Square as snow fell early Friday."

Still Icebound In Texas & Now Thinking Of Going Swimming With The Icicles

A long long time ago I used to be able to go swimming in what is now my ice pond. The fountain that spouts water into the pool has caused really big icicles to form.

I am really hoping that the icicles begin to melt tomorrow.

Right now it is the hottest it has been here in days. 19 degrees.

Snow is predicted to be possible from now until tomorrow.

Up in my old hometown in Washington, right now, it is 48 degrees. The Scrabble Queen of Washington is escaping those frigid Washington temperatures tomorrow by going to Hawaii.

Meanwhile down in Port Aransas, on the semi-tropical Texas Gulf Coast, Alma has had to give up her regular flip flops and put on real shoes due to it being 40 degrees in Port Aransas. Houston is scheduled to possibly get some snow. I have not heard if the snow is predicted to make it all the way to Alma.

Back here in the D/FW Metroplex the usually hot Elsie Hotpepper turns into Elsie Coolbean in this icy misery.  I've heard from Elsie erratically ever since we went into the DEEP FREEZE. Usually I have heard from Elsie Hotpepper several times by this time in the day. I hope she did not try and do some saloon hopping in these dire conditions and suffer some icy woe.

Al Gore has been in the news explaining how the worst winter weather in decades is just one more sign of Global Warming. I think I actually voted for him.