Yes, that winter feeling has finally arrived, and it goes without saying that tonight will be very cold…some of the coldest temps of the season so far for many parts of the state.  Lows will drop down into the teens across the panhandle region, which will be warmer than last night, but still a few degrees below average for this time of the year.  Across parts of north, west and central Texas, lows will dip down into the 20s for the first time this season…and for southeast Texas and all along the coast down into deep south Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, lows will range from freezing to near freezing overnight.  Freeze Warnings are in place until 9am tomorrow for portions of southeast, southcentral and southwest Texas.  Hard Freeze Warnings are in place through 9am for portions of the southern Permian Basin and Big Bend region.

While the precipitation from earlier today has cleared the state, we will have the chance for a light drizzle and some freezing fog overnight across portions of far west Texas overnight.  Light ice accumulations will be possible on top of whatever moisture remains on the roadways from earlier today, so those traveling tonight near the I-20/I-10 split will need to be mindful of icy patches on roadways and especially bridges.

Highs tomorrow will recover nicely into the low to mid 50s across the western 1/3rd of the state, but for the rest of the state, we’ll still be dealing with highs only reaching into the 40s by tomorrow afternoon. This cold spell will be short-lived though with highs increasing back to near normal by Saturday and above normal by Sunday.  Looking ahead…another cold front will move into the northern half of the state on Monday, but will quickly retreat on Tuesday before another, much stronger, cold front makes a run at us on Wednesday.  How strong that front will be and how far south it will dig into the state remains unclear, but we’ll keep an eye on it and bring you the latest as the forecast continues to develop.  Rain chances return to the eastern 1/3 of the state Sunday then it looks like we remain dry until towards the end of next week.