Northeast El Paso Neighborhood Hit By Winter Storm

The icy roads kept some Northeast El Paso residents from going to work Tuesday morning.

“When I woke up this morning, it was completely iced over. I had about three inches of snow on my cars, it was all icy and snowy out here,” said Bob Stewart, a North Hills resident. North Hills is a neighborhood off of Martin Luther King Drive, north of U.S. 54.

Stewart said he and his wife tried to drive to work in the morning, but the road conditions were too hazardous and they drove back home. He said the icy roads, a blanket of snow and traffic back-up made the morning commute impossible.

Stewart described how the ice eventually turned into flowing water on some parts of the road.

“You could see tire tracks, but there wasn’t any slush and even John Cunningham (Boulevard) was just starting to melt and the water was flowing down the street,” he said.

Those who did venture out in the icy roads took much longer to get to their destination than usual. One commuter said it took her nearly two hours to get from her Northeast El Paso home to work on the westside.

North Hills usually fits the desert landscape. Tuesday morning, it looked like a tamer version of the North Pole, with snow covering roofs and cars. Even the desert palm trees surfaced from the frigid night with sharp icicles.

By mid-afternoon, the snow still blanketed a nearby park where children played.

“I tell everybody I’m in the wrong city because I hate hot weather and I love snow,” said Cristal Roepke, who said her mother had given her and her brother permission to skip school so they could take advantage of the snow day.

Hikers and dog-walkers were also out at the park by mid-afternoon.

There won’t be any more snow to spiff up the North Hills landscape in the foreseeable future. Residents will just have to brace for another deep freeze Tuesday night, as temperatures are expected to dip into the teens.