As the song goes, the weather outside is frightful.

So are the conditions of streets and sidewalks all over Amarillo that are covered in ice. Funny thing, though. The sky isn’t producing any moisture. The air is crackly dry. The water is coming from irrigation systems that the owners fail to turn off when the weather gets so, um, frightful.

I drove yesterday from extreme southwest Amarillo toward downtown and I lost count of the number of large spots of ice covering sidewalks. Water had spilled into the street at many locations, covering the asphalt with ice as well.

From where I come from, that constitutes a hazard to (a) pedestrians brave enough to be walking in weather like this and (b) motorists who might not see the ice sheets covering the street in front of them.

The temperature was about 11 degrees when I awoke this morning; the wind chill took it to 3 below zero.

The good news for my wife and me is that we live on a secluded residential street. Most of the residents on our little corner of heaven have irrigation systems. Make no mistake, many of them are still spewing water even though the outdoor temps freeze the water almost on contact. We have no compelling need to walk in front of our neighbors’ homes, where we might take a header while slipping on the ice.

The other areas with a lot of foot and motorized traffic, though, need some attention.

A final request: Turn off the irrigation systems.