DALLAS (TIP) As snow fell across North Texas on Thursday, February 6 the bitter cold caused some driving headaches and prompted some school districts to dismiss early. Several school districts will be closed Friday, while many others will operate on a delay In Jacksboro, problems with a gas line forced a company to cut service to the entire city, and it might not be restored until Friday or Saturday.

POWER ERCOT,

the electricity grid operator in Texas, is asking people to conserve power through noon on Friday due to increased demand on the grid because of the cold weather. ERCOT said peak demand on Thursday morning exceeded 57,000 megawatts. “We already saw electric demand close to our winter record this morning,” said Dan Woodfin, ERCOT director of System Operations in a statement on Thursday. “We are expecting cold weather to continue through tomorrow morning’s high demand period, and some generation capacity has become unavailable due to limitations to natural gas supplies.”

SCHOOLS

Several schools and school districts announced Thursday night that they’ll be closed Friday, including Azle ISD, Boles ISD, Garner ISD and more. Dallas ISD said Thursday that school will be held at the regular time Friday, but if that changes, officials will announce it no later than 6 a.m. Friday. Fort Worth ISD students are already off Friday, but officials will evaluate weather conditions and will make a decision early Friday morning about whether or not staff will be required to go in. Many other schools will operate on a delayed schedule Friday.

ROAD CONDITIONS Drivers had a tough time getting around in the snow Thursday. In Dallas, 406 wrecks were reported. About 146 were injury accidents, and a majority of those happened on freeways. Sheriff’s deputies were on patrol along the I-35 corridor in Dallas looking for accidents, which is where one woman lost control, spun sideways, then hit a wall. No one was hurt. Just after noon Thursday, the city of Dallas activated a condition it calls “Ice Force Level 2,” with about 70 sanding trucks and 145 personnel on the roadways. Other municipalities had crews out working as well.

AIRPORTS

The snow caused hundreds of delays and cancellations at DFW Airport on Thursday. About 200 departures were canceled, and crews worked hard in the cold to de-ice planes. At times, they shut down runways to clear the snow. DFW officials urge travelers set to fly Friday to keep an eye on the status of their flights. Dallas Love Field reported no major issues.