Winter weather hits Austin

The wintry mix that blew through Bastrop County arrived on a cold north wind Friday morning. It coated creeks and cars with a thin layer of ice.

Traffic backed up on Highway 71 after the bridge over Highway 21 froze up. The slippery conditions caused several wrecks. A spin out happened in front of Megan Dyer.

"It was pretty scary, I didn't realize it was icy like that we had some sleet on my windshield but I didn't think it had gotten cold enough to get ice on the bridge but it was pretty scary," said Dyer who was able to avoid the spin out in front of her.

The overpasses in Bastrop County reopened a little before 9 a.m. A TxDOT crew was sent out and put out some deicing material to make sure the roadway would not freeze up again.

Down the road at McKinney Roughs Nature Park a walkway remained closed off until it could thaw out.

Three friends weren't waiting for a warm up. They spent the morning tossing a load of firewood into their truck. They plan to burn through most of it during a camp out Friday night

"We are going to try to weather it through and see how it goes. It may not work out but we will for sure get ourselves a good fire and make it last," said Colton Robbins.

A fire burning in an old oil drum was a better option for Josue Lopez and his friend. They stood close to the makeshift heater which was set up in front of the tire shop where they work. Lopez said he will probably spend most of the day in the parking lot by the fire because it was colder in the garage.

With freezing temperatures expected to linger into the weekend Bastrop musician Larry Wilson sat on his front porch with an old guitar. With a smile he played a song to the first cold snap of 2017 and then quickly went back inside.