The summer of hell number two is behind us, and winter’s wrath has returned to Texas. We’ve had periodic freezing drizzle across the eastern half of Texas overnight. More surprisingly, we’ve also had bouts of lake-effect snow. Unlike the Great Lakes, where LES can drop feet of accumulation daily, ours has been more tame. Those ten to thirty miles south of larger lakes in Texas may have noticed light to moderate snowfall. For most folks, that snow resulted in a dusting to perhaps an inch of dry powder. We don’t expect the snow to become widespread or persist too much longer.

Winter’s Wrath: Lake Effect Snow & Freezing Rain

Simulated weather model radar this morning through this evening.

Freezing drizzle and light freezing rain will remain possible across Central Texas, East Texas, the Hill Country, South-Central Texas, the Coastal Plains, and Southeast Texas through the late afternoon hours. By this evening, most light precipitation will be confined to the Golden Triangle, Texas Gulf Coast, Southeast Texas, Coastal Plains, and perhaps the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley. As temperatures fall below freezing, we’ll watch trends for any drizzle tonight in the Coastal Bend, Deep South Texas, and Rio Grande Valley.

Overall, ice accumulations will remain light across the regions mentioned above. We’ve already seen travel difficulties in the San Antonio metro. While widespread travel disruptions aren’t expected over the entire state , we’ll need to be mindful of slick bridges, overpasses, and even some roads today across the eastern half of Texas. With very cold temperatures in place, any precipitation will stick. You can check Texas Road Conditions anytime at DriveTexas.org.

Texas Temperature Forecast through Thursday

Temperatures will not rise above freezing in the northern two-thirds of Texas this afternoon or across most of the northern half of Texas on Tuesday. The only uninvolved folks in the colder airmass are west of the Davis and Guadalupe Mountains in Far West Texas (Borderland – El Paso), the Big Bend, and the Rio Grande Valley. High temperatures today will be in the 60s for those lucky folks. Colder air arrives tonight, with a sixty-degree temperature in Alpine. Nearly all of Texas will be below-freezing on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning. Wind chills will remain five to fifteen degrees below the air temperature.

A much-desired warmup begins Wednesday, with all of Texas climbing above freezing during the afternoon. We’ll be warmer Wednesday night, with sixties and seventies returning Thursday to the southern two-thirds of Texas. The northern third of Texas will climb into the 40s and 50s. A strong cold front will bring winter back to Texas on Friday and Saturday – though it doesn’t look as intense as this round, and winter precipitation isn’t looking likely.