Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: JAMES NIELSEN Chronicle Houston police officers divert traffic from ice-covered lanes on Interstate 10 westbound at the Taylor street exit early Saturday morning. Share Print Share 
  
 Houston's rare snowfall led to slippery conditions overnight that forced road closures and contributed to several serious accidents, including one that killed a driver and another that injured a Houston police officer. 
  
 An officer investigating a minor traffic accident on 610 above the Gulf Freeway sustained injuries from a passing motorist who lost control around 7:30 a.m., Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith said. 
  
 That driver, who was not involved in the initial accident, saw the investigation, tapped their brakes and skidded into the patrol car – pinning the officer between his cruiser and the guard rail. 
  
 The officer was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with leg injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, Smith said. The officer’s name is not being released pending notification of family. He is assigned to the Eastside Patrol Division. 
  
 In another incident, a man died overnight in a one-car accident on North Wayside near the North Loop. 
  
 Around 11:30 p.m., a green Cadillac Seville was traveling southbound on North Wayside at a high rate of speed when it struck a curb, crossed a grassy median and continued into other lanes of traffic, Smith said. The car eventually stopped in a wooded area. 
  
 The driver was killed at the scene and his passenger was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital. 
  
 KHOU reported several additional accidents and closed roads. 
  
 Around 9 p.m., several cars lost control and slammed into each other late Friday on the elevated part of Studemont over White Oak Bayou near I-10. A pickup headed southbound on I-45 near Crosstimbers hit a patch of ice and spun out around 10 p.m. An 18-wheeler behind the truck couldn’t stop and the two collided. One person was transported to a hospital with minor injuries. The freeway was shutdown for about an hour for cleanup and sanding. 
  
 KHOU is reporting that about 6 a.m. today, a multi-car pileup on a Gulf Freeway overpass at Griggs prompted police to shut down all inbound lanes of I-45. At least one person was killed, but further details were not yet available. Traffic is being diverted to the feeder road, and inbound traffic quickly backed up. 
  
 Officials urged drivers to use caution, especially when navigating bridges and overpasses. 
  
 Many flights were delayed Friday because of mandatory de-icing procedures, and more than 100 were canceled. 
  
 Emergency officials voiced concerns that melted snow could turn to ice, especially on bridges and overpasses, but few drivers were seen testing the road conditions Friday night. 
  
 Even before the snow began falling, work crews already had applied a magnesium-chloride solution to places likely to be trouble spots for freezing. 
  
 “That's when it's most effective — we apply it when the roads are dry and give it time to set in,” said Sanchez. “We're going to monitor it tonight and keep a pretty close eye on our roadways, especially the bridges and overpasses.” 
  
 Sand truck crews from the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation were on standby. The most pressing concern overnight was patches of difficult-to-detect “black ice” forming on the roadways as the temperature dropped, Sanchez said. 
  
 “You don't always see the black ice and that can be deceptive,” he said. “We just don't want folks to get overconfident. The danger is still there.” 
  
 The area's greatest snow accumulations came about 60 miles southwest of Houston, where the National Weather Service reported 4 inches near Lane City and Boling. Wharton got 3 inches. 
  
 Closer to Houston, Pearland got 2.5 inches of snow. Officially, George Bush Intercontinental Airport recorded less than half an inch. 
  
 Houston's snowfall this year was unprecedented. It beat the previous record for earliest snowfall of Dec. 10, set in 1944 and 2008, by nearly a week. It also was the first time accumulating snow has fallen in consecutive years. 
  
 Take that, Chicago 
  
 For what it's worth, Houston's seasonal total of snowfall this winter now exceeds that of Chicago, which has had just a trace so far. There's a pretty good chance Houston will not lead that race for long, as the city averages one snowfall about every four years. 
  
 To get snow in the Houston area, weather conditions have to be almost perfect: arctic air must arrive at the same time as moisture in the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere. Usually, the cold, dry air gets to Houston before the atmospheric moisture, which erodes it, or it arrives too late. 
  
 This time, a low-pressure system in the mid- to upper-levels reached our area right along with the Arctic air Friday morning. 
  
 No blizzards forecast 
  
 Looking ahead, meteorologist Fred Schmude of ImpactWeather said he does not expect another freeze tonight. The forecast shows highs in the upper 40s and lows in the low 40s. 
  
 A modest chance of rainfall will return to the forecast Sunday through early next week as temperatures gradually warm. 
  
 Reporter Ericka Mellon contributed to this report. 
  
 mike.tolson@chron.com 
  
 eric.berger@chron.com 
  
 mike.glenn@chron.com 
  
 cindy.george@chron.com ||||| Startling residents and weather experts, the Texas city set a record Friday for the earliest snowfall ever, prompting a winter storm warning for the state's southeast region. 
  
 The Houston area expected up to an additional 2 inches of snow Friday evening as a powerful surge delivered cold air down from the Rockies, said Chris McKinney, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Houston. Some areas could receive 3 to 5 inches of snow. 
  
 "It's not normal to see not this much snow," McKinney said. "Sometimes, we don't see snow at all. It just doesn't happen." 
  
 It has never snowed two years in a row, McKinney said. Snow is so rare, that since 1895, snow has only fallen in Houston 33 times. 
  
 Not this year. Parts of Montague, Cooke, Wise, Jack, Parker and Palo Pinto Counties reported more than 1 inch of snow, NBC News affiliate KXAS in Dallas-Forth Worth reported. The highest snowfall total was in Jacksboro, where residents had 3 inches of snow. 
  
 There was more on the way. Houston and surrounding areas braced for more than snow: Rain, freezing, rain, sleet and hail were expected to hit the area hard. 
  
 Traffic delays 
  
 Officials braced for the worst and started preparing for icy roads and treacherous driving conditions by sending sanding trucks out to coat roads and airport runways. 
  
 The Texas Department of Transportation said it was ready. 
  
 "We've updated our route maps to reflect any changes that occurred since our last rain event," Gilbert Aguillar, Dallas street director, told KXAS. "We've been servicing our equipment and training our personnel." 
  
 Msnbc.com's Sevil Omer contributed to this report. |||||
A:
Snow began falling on Houston this morning, making Dec. 4 the city record for earliest snowfall. Forecasts differ, but most expect 1 to 2 inches over a large area, with the possibility of up to 6 inches near the coast, the Chronicle reports. The phenomenon is not just unfamiliar but almost unheard-of—in the past 114 years, Houston has seen snow just 33 times, MSNBC reports.