2008-09 Texas Winter Weather Thread

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

:lol:

Go Tech!

What's ironic is that I'm wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt today. Yes, I lost a bet a few years ago and had to wear a UT t-shirt to work one day. I kept the T-shirt for yardwork days, etc.

I use Tech and Aggy shirts to do stuff like whipe the oil dip stick when I check my oil. They also make good car wash towels.

[HouTXmetro]

:lol:

Go Tech!

What's ironic is that I'm wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt today. Yes, I lost a bet a few years ago and had to wear a UT t-shirt to work one day. I kept the T-shirt for yardwork days, etc.

I use Tech and Aggy shirts to do stuff like whipe the oil dip stick when I check my oil. They also make good car wash towels.

I use cut up pieces of an old Longhorn shirt as a rag to clean up spills around the house. Old torn up pieces of Tech shirts make for a great tissue substitute when I run out of it in the restroom.

[vbhoutex]

Ok, maybe I am missing something here, but what do the last three posts have to do with Winter Weather in Texas?

[Portastorm]

With regards to this weekend's arctic cold front with no precipitation ... in the words of my avatar, "who needs that?!"

[severe]

After this latest cold front, what's in store for southeast Texas in the long range?
We'll have a return flow pretty quick, know that.
Heard talk of some interesting weather by mid-January?

[Ed Mahmoud]

Ok, maybe I am missing something here, but what do the last three posts have to do with Winter Weather in Texas?

Nothing, but as alumni of various Big XII schools, we all share pride in a group of men, most of whom would almost certainly never attend our schools if they couldn't play football, and their exploits on the field of play.


Since winter weather in Texas is at least as likely to provide severe weather as snowor ice, I'd like to promote my event specific Tuesday/Wednesday as identified by last Monday's Euro severe weather thread.


*edited by southerngale to fix link

[Portastorm]

Well, NWSFO EWX has added a slight chance of freezing drizzle tonight into tomorrow morning in the Austin metro forecast. However, the AFD says amounts will be near negligible due to how dry the atmosphere is.

Temps are in the mid to upper 30s around the general area as of 8 am Sunday. Big drop from yesterday's 80 degrees!

Edit update: Heh, about 20 minutes after I posted the above, I saw this ... the NWS giveth, the NWS taketh away ...

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
845 AM CST SUN DEC 21 2008

.UPDATE...
UPDATED FORECAST TO REMOVE MENTION OF DRIZZLE AND FREEZING DRIZZLE
FROM THE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT AND EARLY MONDAY MORNING GIVEN THE
EXTREMELY DRY AIRMASS MOVING IN AND THE 12Z NAM12 OUTPUT SHOWING
CONTINUED DRYING AND NO PRECIPITATION TONIGHT OR TOMORROW. ALSO
DECREASED MAX TEMPS TODAY BY 2-4 DEGREES GIVEN OBSERVED TEMPS...
OVERCAST SKIES AND RATHER STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Not sure that glorious precipitation on regional radar is making it to the surface with dewpoints in the teens, but on the other hand we have lots of room with the dewpoint for evaporative cooling, if any brave little sleet pellets want to come visit.


ETA: Dewpoints even lower out (single digits F) where the echoes are, and no reports of anything making it to bring Christmas joy to the residents of Texas.

[LaBreeze]

Local met stated this evening that it is not out of the question for a few sleet pellets or even some flakes to fall during the night and early morning hours - no accumulation for sure.

[serenata09]

Looks like sleet/freezing rain is building around the Austin metro...?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/golf/map/interactive/78759?from=36hr_maps&zoom=8&interactiveMapLayer=radar

[Shoshana]

We are definitely getting precipitation. It seems to be light rain at the moment. Our outdoor gauge quit working so i don't know how cold it is but online all the sites say 27F -30F. (NE Austin close to Pflugerville) I'm not real sure on why it's still liquid.

I'm glad I'm not on an overpass - this cold and windy that rain will freeze fast on the roadway.

Reminds me of one commute home in Dallas on LBJ Freeway - driving home and it's wet ... and it froze as we were driving. Talk about an ice rink!

[southerngale]

Some of the precip in South Central to Southeast Texas seems to be switching from rain to a mix to snow. I don't know if it's reaching the ground or not, but weather.com's interactive radar shows the same thing, so it appears to be accurate.

This is a saved radar loop. To see the live radar, click the link below the image.



http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?location=USTX1200&animate=true&enlarge=true

[Portastorm]

Nothing here in SW Austin but cloudy and very cold (upper 20s!). I figured my fellow Austinite (Shoshana) might have seen something as she's in NE Austin and underneath where the radar returns were.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Brief episode of very light freezing rain and sleet in Northern Houston suburbs, but that is about over.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Poster Ticka1 at the KHOU local weather blog reports the 6Z GFS shows the mother of all winter storms only a little more than two weeks away from Houston!

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/06/fp0_384.shtml

[Portastorm]

Poster Ticka1 at the KHOU local weather blog reports the 6Z GFS shows the mother of all winter storms only a little more than two weeks away from Houston!

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/06/fp0_384.shtml

As alluded to in the KHOU weather forum and discussed more fully by the pro mets in the EasternWx forum, we could be headed for a -NAO pattern change in January and perhaps some real opportunities of school/work closings to make you (and others) happy, Ed!

Will be interesting to see how both the GFS and Euro play this out over the next few days.

[CaptinCrunch]

I'm also going with a bigger change after the first of the year that could very well last into early March. A -NAO could very well be the case, and if it does go that way then parts of the South and Deep South could see the same type of weather that the Midwest and Northeast has seen for the better part of December. -NAO patterns seem to bring about more high ridging off the Pacific NW and digs out a deep trough in the mid section of the country, as high pressure builds up over Hudson Bay, this allows pacific storm systems to track further south under the trough tapping into the gulf moisture and over riding the dence cold air at the surface.

While I'm no weather pro, I do have a good understanding of how the NAO works in conjunction with other weather vairables. Never the less I truely feel that January and February will turn very cold and snowy for many parts of Texas.

[Texas Snowman]

We can only hope so!

While we have had periodic shots of cold air, ice events, and snowfall events over the years (including 17-inches in two snowfalls in one week last March!), t's been a long time since we've had an overall hard, lengthy winter here in N. Texas.

I've got plenty of firewood ready to go, so bring it on!

Tx Snowman

[Shoshana]

Well, it's just cold and windy now. I never did see any frozen stuff falling.

Wonder if we'll get snow in January?

eta:

I had to laugh - I just saw the online KVUE forecast for last night - remember it was in the 20's overnight (and around 31 right now)

SUNDAY NIGHT'S FORECAST:

A warm front will lift through Central Texas overnight, keeping temperatures from falling more than a degree or two. Isolated showers and widespread fog will accompany the front. Tomorrow will begin a quick warming trend that will last through Christmas.

LOW: 39°

[jinftl]

Updated forecast from NWS Houston shows temps rising overnight...

NWS Forecast for: Houston TX
Issued by: National Weather Service Houston, TX
Last Update: 2:32 pm CST Dec 22, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Afternoon: A 20 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 38. East wind around 10 mph.

Tonight: A chance of rain before 6pm, then showers likely, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a temperature rising to around 44 by 5am. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Tuesday: Showers likely, mainly before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 67. East wind 10 to 15 mph becoming south. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. South wind between 5 and 15 mph.

Wednesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54.

Christmas Day: A chance of showers before 6am, then a chance of rain, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64.

Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75.

Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64.

Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 42.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 64.