Less than 48 hrs to the cold blast

The Arctic cold front we know is coming is still expected to arrive in Central Texas late morning on Thursday. Although we likely won’t set any temperature records from this cold blast, we’re expecting at least two days with morning lows below 20°, at least two days of afternoon temperatures below 30°, and strong wind gusts dropping wind chills into the single digits and even below zero.

This cold blast will follow a mostly cloudy, cool Wednesday, with a quick weather change once the front rolls in. It races south and temperatures will continue to drop and we expect to get below freezing by 5pm Thursday. Exceptionally strong north winds are expected Thursday after the front passes through, potentially gusting between 30 and 50 MPH. Gusty winds and the cold combine together to drop afternoon wind chills Thursday into the teens, which is why we have a Wind Chill Watch in place Thursday 6am - Friday 12pm. You’ll want to wrap pipes, bring in pets/plants, check on people, and have a secondary heat source prepared. These wind chill could easily result in hypothermia if outdoors unprepared.

We stay below freezing all day Friday, even with sunshine! It’s not until Saturday afternoon that we get above freezing for a few hours in the afternoon. Temperatures will fall right back below freezing for Christmas Eve - bottoming out in the teens/low 20s for Santa’s arrival. Christmas Day will bring us a nice gift - a warming trend! It’s not going to be “warm” by any means but we will get above freezing - into the mid 40s!

It’s going to to get cold in a hurry but at least we are just dealing with the cold air and windy weather. There’s no winter precipitation - snow or ice - in the forecast for us. Hopefully that means the power grid will get us through. For a full discussion on how cold it’ll get later this week, be sure to read this article that focuses solely on the cold.

Two more near or sub-freezing mornings are expected Monday and Tuesday, but highs should return back into the low-to-mid 50s. By the time we reach our next chance of rain, which may be next Thursday, our highs will warm back into the 60s and maybe even the 70s!

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