Hopefully many of y’all were able to get outdoors and enjoy the relatively warmer temperatures today. The good news is we’ll see temperatures climb even higher on Wednesday. Low temperatures tonight will be comparable to what our temperatures topped out at on Sunday. We’ll have the freezing line extend into West Texas into Northwest Texas and Texoma. Temperatures in the Texas Panhandle tonight will fall into the 20s. Low-lying or protected sections of the Permian Basin, Big Country, and Hill Country could briefly make it below freezing tonight. In general temperatures will fall into the 30s into South-Central Texas into East Texas. The Borderland, South Texas, Southeast Texas, Middle Coast, into Deep South Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley will be warmer tonight into Wednesday morning with lows in the 40s. By sunrise the only mostly cloudy part of Texas will be in the southeast.

A cool front will bring gusty north winds to the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday. Temperatures will top out in the upper 40s to lower 50s, which is around average for December. Outside of the Panhandle temperatures will be warmer with highs making it into the 60s and 70s. Precipitation chances are near zero until the late-night hours Wednesday into the morning hours Thursday, except in the Borderland where increasing shower chances are expected tomorrow.

Christmas Day continues to look warm with a storm system impacting Texas. Rain and storms will be possible with this system, although I emphasis the timing aspect precludes more than a general mention at this point. A couple strong storms will be possible along and east of Interstate 35 in Northeast Texas and East Texas on Christmas into Christmas Night. This system is much further north than the one that brought us a tornado outbreak on December 26, 2015. While storms are possible on Christmas and Christmas Night, the severe weather risk is presently low. Even if we did have a low-end severe risk, nothing in weather model guidance suggests the threat would be remotely close to 12/26/15.