Editor’s Note: The video above shows the latest forecast from the KXAN First Warning Weather team.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — We’re two weeks away from the end of meteorological winter, but our coldest temperatures of the season may still be ahead of us.
Before the arctic cold arrives, a brief wintry mix may cause some slippery spots next week.
First, a storm on Tuesday into early Wednesday
A storm system on Tuesday should bring scattered showers and storms to the area after more temperature ups and downs this weekend and early next week.
As that storm pulls away a strong cold front will help to usher in some frigid air back into Central Texas knocking us a few degrees below freezing by Wednesday morning.
If (and right now that’s a big if) there’s leftover rain from Tuesday’s storm as that colder air arrives in the evening, we could see some spotty areas of icing late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
- Tuesday: Scattered rain showers and storms (40% chance)
- Tuesday night: A few lingering showers or freezing rain showers (20% chance)
- Wednesday morning: Stray freezing rain shower, or rain shower (10% chance)
As you can tell, moisture will be rather limited to get a significant icing event, but spotty icing is possible and it doesn’t take much to make things slippery.
Then, the coldest lows of the season
As cold air continues to push south we get colder Wednesday night under a clear sky with lighter winds.
We now expect lows on Thursday morning will be in the teens in Austin making for our coldest morning of the season. Our previous coldest morning of winter had a low of 20º at Austin’s Camp Mabry on Jan. 22.
It’s worth remembering that lows that cold mean you should remember to protect the 4 Ps: People, pets, plants and pipes.
Much can change in a forecast over just a few days. We’ll keep you updated on the amount of moisture left Tuesday night into Wednesday morning which may lower or increase the icing threat, plus we’ll monitor the magnitude of cold for next Thursday morning.
Stay with the First Warning Weather Team for the latest.
