Winter Storm Fern Puts Olney on Pause

Winter Storm Fern swept into Olney late Friday afternoon as residents prepared for ice, snow and a long weekend indoors, bringing much of the city to a standstill for several days.

Up to 5 inches of snow fell across Olney over the Jan. 24–25 weekend, with a layer of ice underneath making roads especially treacherous, the National Weather Service reported. Driving snow on Friday and again on Sunday limited travel, and a layer cake of snow and ice lingered on the ground well into the following week.

Olney ISD dismissed students for a half day on Friday and ultimately canceled classes through Wednesday, with students returning to classrooms on Thursday — a total of three and a half days off school.

The storm also disrupted city and county business. The Olney City Council and the Young County Commissioners Court postponed their regularly scheduled Monday, Jan. 26 meetings to later in the week. A planned tour of the new hospital facility was canceled, along with a community meeting at the Olney Civic Center with the Project Saltworks data center team.

The Olney Community Library and Arts Center also pushed back its tentative grand opening for the newly updated library, rescheduling the event for Feb. 15.

Despite the prolonged cold and snowfall, the storm had little impact on the city’s power supply. Fort Belknap Electric Cooperative President Kendall Montgomery said outages were minimal and quickly resolved.

“We got out in pretty good shape this past weekend,” Mr. Montgomery said. “Less freezing rain and more sleet and snow. We had two outages total due to the weather — one caused by a broken tree limb and one where a fuse broke due to the very cold weather. Both outages were restored within an hour or two. We had no major damage.”

As a precaution, the city opened two warming stations during the storm — one at First Baptist Church of Olney and another at The Refuge. While no one sought assistance at First Baptist Church, The Refuge helped one individual during the storm, director Rodney Nantz said.

“We assisted one individual during the storm by providing basic necessities and helping him reach a shelter in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he was able to stay for the next few days and nights,” Mr. Nantz said.

Fern was part of a broader winter system that affected much of North Texas, bringing snow, ice and school closures from the Red River south into the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

The storm and extreme cold temperatures were blamed for at leaast 69 deaths in 13 staes, the NWS said.