Texas winter weather thread #2 - winter weather on Friday?

[Extremeweatherguy]

Hey EWG:

In reference to some of your questions the other day about how could it be colder further south - here is a good example of Arctic Air making a southward charge.

Sugar Land: 39F
Cypress: 38F
Wharton: 37F
----
IAH/Bush: 45F
Conroe: 42F

SugarLand is about 40nm SOUTH of Conroe but only about 10nm WEST.

Conroe has since fallen to 40F and IAH to 42F, but yes, good point. Seems like the cold today is more W to E oriented, so that is why places out west are colder than places to the east (thus Sugar land, to the southwest of Conroe, is colder). Also, precipitation will be a big factor today. Areas that see rain should be cooler than areas that don't.

[vbhoutex]

11am temperatures:

Brenham = 31F
College Station = 35F
Hooks airport (Tomball) = 39F
IAH = 42F
Hobby = 44F

the strangest thing is...IT IS NOVEMBER 30TH! (yet it feels more like January).

BTW: Once dewpoints fall below 32F, there is a chance some sleet could mix in with an precip. that falls. That is how it worked out during that event last December. The evaporative cooling with such dry air led to the wintery precip. mixing in. This should probably be only a localized occurance (and mainly north of I-10) though.

As Jeff has said, we will, unfortunately(or fortunately depending on how you look at it)get dry slotted before we get any wintery precip in the immediate area. N and W counties need to be watching closely as they may be in for a surprise later this afternoon.

[CaptinCrunch]

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1047 AM CST THU NOV 30 2006

.UPDATE...
UPDATE GOING OUT WITH ONLY A FEW MINOR CHANGES. WINTERY MIX OF
PRECIP WILL CONTINUE OVER ALL OF THE WARNING AND ADVISORY
AREA...WITH THE WEST AND NORTH RECEIVING THE BRUNT OF THE ICE.
TEMPERATURES OVER THE WESTERN HALF WILL REMAIN FAIRLY STEADY OR EVEN
DROP A BIT THIS AFTERNOON...WHILE THE EASTERN HALF WILL CONTINUE A
DOWNWARD SPIRAL.

THE 15Z SOUNDING SHOWED DEEPER COLD AIRMASS AND A SLIGHT COOLING OF
THE WARM NOSE SO WE WILL BE SENDING UP AN 18Z SOUNDING TO CHECK FOR
ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES.

THE NEXT CONCERN WILL BE THE COLD TEMPERATURES TONIGHT. WILL ADDRESS
THEM IN THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE.

Things should be winding down by 3pm.

[jeff]

Arctic front has passed through all of SE TX.

1100am observations show 40 degree temp line deep into SE TX and progressing SE at 10-15mph. Upstream temps have fallen into the low to mid 30’s at KCLL and Brenham. Temp is already 38 at Sugarland at 39 at Hooks and 42 at IAH. Will see temps continue to fall into the mid and upper 30’s through the afternoon as very strong surface cold air advection ensues.

Incredible temperature fall occurred at Corpus Christi from 76 to 46 in 40 minutes with NW winds gusting to 54mph.


Near Blizzard conditions in progress over NW TX and the rolling plains with Lubbock reporting whiteout conditions with zero visibility in blowing snow. Snow drifts are approaching 2-3 feet over the low rolling plains due to strong surface winds with actual snowfall amounts of 5-8 inches. Widespread freezing rain and sleet is occurring along and north of a line from near Austin to Killeen to east of Dallas. Buda reported sleet in the last hour (east of Austin) and DFW has just changed to light snow. Light snow is mixing with sleet in Waco.


As cold upper low moves through WC TX early this afternoon, enough forcing may generate a few heavier showers with sleet over the NW 1/3rd of SE TX. Surface temps. will be right at or above freezing and the ground is still very warm so no accumulation is expected. Per attached winter weather radar, mixed precip. is getting quite close to our NW counties. Yellow reflectivity W of Houston may be indicating rain mixed with sleet in the stronger convective cells from Brazos Co to NE Colorado Co.


Winds will continue to howl with sustained speeds of 20-30mph and gust upwards of 35-40mph. Wind chills will drop into the 20’s by mid afternoon.

[double D]

Skies are starting to clear rapidly to my west (Fredericksburg). I also noticed that dewpoints are dropping fast too, it looks like any chance of frozen stuff is about over for the Hill country.

I hope the Houston area can squeeze a couple of sleet pellets out of this to make EWG's day

[Extremeweatherguy]

I am watching those cells to the SW of town closely. They are starting to get stronger on the radar and seem to be moving NE toward the area. If there is any chance at all of sleet today...it will likely be from them, but if not they should still help take our temperatures down another few degrees when they arrive. Probably into the mid 30s. Brr..

[gboudx]

Getting some sleet with flurries now in Plano. I'm north of George Bush, east of 75.

[jasons2k]

Hey EWG:

In reference to some of your questions the other day about how could it be colder further south - here is a good example of Arctic Air making a southward charge.

Sugar Land: 39F
Cypress: 38F
Wharton: 37F
----
IAH/Bush: 45F
Conroe: 42F

SugarLand is about 40nm SOUTH of Conroe but only about 10nm WEST.

Conroe has since fallen to 40F and IAH to 42F, but yes, good point. Seems like the cold today is more W to E oriented, so that is why places out west are colder than places to the east (thus Sugar land, to the southwest of Conroe, is colder). Also, precipitation will be a big factor today. Areas that see rain should be cooler than areas that don't.

I did update the #'s in the next post. Maybe you missed my point. The cold isn't more oriented W-E; it's more oriented N-S. That was the point. Right now it's 37 in Bay City but 42 at Bush.

This also explains the more incredible drop in Corpus as the front went through. Classic case of an artcic airmass rapidly plunging southward...but gradually inching eastward.

[txtwister]

We have been getting sleet with flurriesfor the last hour or so. The roofs are all white and our playset out in the back has a good dusting. I am real worried about this afternoon's commute and when the schools start getting out. I really think the schools blew it here it by not calling the day on the account of bad weather. The smaller private schools and all of the colleges called it. But, not our public school districts.

[Extremeweatherguy]

I am at 38F right now in NW Houston with overcast skies, mist and lots of wind. The temperature keeps falling too...I was 39-40F an hour ago.

[aggiecutter]

If anyone is going to get anything significant from this system, it will be a long the path of the upper low as it pulls out. People on and north of a line from Dallas to Texarkana might possibly see snow burst as the upper low travels over them for a couple hours this afternoon and tonight that could lead to a few inches in spots. Looks like the dry slot is going to shut off everything in the Austin area within the next couple hours. That will save them from a significant icing event as the dew point is in the upper 20's. I think I will get a brief heavy snow squall event that will last for an hour or two as the upper low comes over tonight. It could leave a dusting to if I am lucky an inch.

[jasons2k]

You can see on the radar presentation for DFW the precip is changing from Sleet to Snow. From Denton/Tarrant counties westward the presentation is clearly bands of snow; to the east you can still see the pockets of sleet:

[TexasStooge]

Still no word on the school closings in Irving...except for private schools.

[Extremeweatherguy]

12pm temperature updates:

Huntsville = 35F
College Station = 35F
Bay City = 37F
Conroe = 38F
Hooks airport (Tomball) = 38F
Victoria = 39F
IAH = 40F
Hobby = 42F
Galveston = 48F
Beaumont = 77F (still ahead of the front)

BTW: Waco, TX is currently reporting LIGHT SNOW with a temperature of 32F.

[CaptinCrunch]

From my office window I look straight out to the SW at the I-30 - I-35 interchange here in Ft Worth, and the bridges are really starting to freeze over good, everything is white except were the cars have made their paths. The main parts of the interchange still look good. Currently it's snowing with a strong North wind, the snow is light but still able to cover the rooftops around.

UPDATE:

Snow is really picking up now as it moves in from the west!!

[Tireman4]

39.9 at Atascocita Middle School at 12:10 pm

[gboudx]

It's all snow here now as well. We've been given the green light to head home if we feel the need to.

[slim79]

im in Dallas and its been snowing at a steady pace for the last few hours.. everything is turning white here in west Dallas and the snow is really picking up!... weatherford and abilene are still reporting snow so Dallas fort worth expect the snow to last until 5 or 6 problably until the evening....

[CaptinCrunch]

It's all snow here now as well. We've been given the green light to head home if we feel the need to.

.

NO SUCH LUCK HERE!!

[vbhoutex]

Slim79 check your pms