Houston, We Have a Problem. South Texas Already Freezing...

This is a quick mid-day update regarding our coming Freeze.  I have mentioned before, while I was still working on-air, that I often used (as my rule of thumb) the temperatures at San Antonio (19) & Houston (28) to gage how cold we might get.  As you can see, at 11 AM the freeze line has surged down to almost Brownsville (34).  We will not dodge the coming freeze and the previous forecasts look to be spot on.

Heavy snow & sleet across northern Mississippi into Tennessee are making travel difficult to near impossible so you MUST DELAY any travel plans for the next 36-48 hours.  Perhaps by Wednesday PM, temps will perk up above freezing allowing for the roads to just be wet.

We've had a little sunshine, but satellite views have a large cloud shield spreading towards us. In addition, our temps will fall from near 60 into the 30s by dark.  So the next question becomes, 'will it snow"?  Probably not & NWS is pushing Freezing Rain as possible, especially north of Lake P.

There is some moisture showing up on radar to our west & back towards the upper Texas coast, it's sleet & freezing rain.   What often happened while I lived up north, the precipitation transitioned from a cold rain to becoming mixed with sleet/ice pellets & then graupel/snow pellets.  Regardless, any travel after dark should be for emergencies only.  Here are some pictures back in the cold air.  The top is from my son Ryan looking out from his home in Edmond, OK late yesterday. 

I grabbed the middle view off The Weather Channel where they were live from Tyler, Texas this morning.  The last is some Cajun humor.  Many locations out west require chains on your tires (increased traction) to get over mountainous location.  Here in Louisiana with Mardi Gras coming, this fella thinks he has a better idea for our approaching slippery roads! Seriously?!!!  Finally, no need to run any water yet.

Wednesday morning will be the morning to do that.  Next update will come after 4 PM.  Be ready & stay tuned!