A mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain is likely to continue across Southeast Texas through Tuesday morning, creating hazardous driving conditions. The National Weather Service predicts 3 to 6 inches of snow and sleet accumulations south of I -10 with locally higher amounts. North of I-10 those accumulations look to be more in the 1-3" range with locally higher amounts. Ice accumulations from freezing rain could measure up to one-tenth of an inch, mainly in our coastal counties.
Where is snows heavily, visibility could drop to between 1/4 and 1/2 of a mile, so use extreme caution if you must be out driving in the snow tonight or tomorrow.
Snow flurries falling as Winter Storm Warning begins
Our ABC13 Weather team has declared Weather Alert Days for Tuesday and Wednesday as the winter storm impacts Southeast Texas with snow, ice, and a hard freeze. An Extreme Cold Watch has also been issued for Tuesday night through Wednesday morning with temperatures in the low teens expected. Wednesday morning could be the coldest of the season yet!
How much frozen precipitation is possible?
1-3" will be common. There are likely to be intense snow bands that set up over parts of Southeast Texas that could drop between 6-12" of snow, but it is impossible to determine where those will occur.
How will this winter storm impact travel?
We are advising people to be prepared to stay put wherever you go to bed Monday night until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. If some of the more aggressive snow/ice amounts verify, travel may be nearly impossible until sometime Thursday. Air travel will also likely be suspended for a time, especially while the precipitation is falling on Tuesday.
What's the coldest it will get with this arctic front?
Unfortunately a hard, pipe-bursting freeze is likely because of all the snow on the ground coupled with the fact that this air is coming all the way from Siberia. At this time we expect low temperatures to bottom out in the mid-to-upper 20s for Houston Monday and Tuesday mornings, and we now predict it will fall into the teens on Wednesday morning. Another hard freeze, possibly down into the teens, is possible Thursday morning, especially over the thicker snowpack. You also need to be aware that when temperatures drop below freezing Monday night, they may not get back above freezing until Wednesday afternoon, giving us nearly 48 straight hours of freezing temperatures.
When will we be done with the freezing temperatures?
We expect another freeze Friday morning, but then we should be done with freezing temperatures over the weekend with highs pushing back into the 60s Saturday and Sunday. Some snowmen could survive in shady spots all the way until Saturday afternoon.
13 ALERT RADAR MAPS:
Southeast Texas
Houston
Harris County
Galveston County
Montgomery/Walker/San Jacinto/Polk/Grimes Counties
Fort Bend/Wharton/Colorado Counties
Brazoria/Matagorda Counties