In brief: This morning is as cold as it’s going to get in Houston during the Arctic freeze, with temperatures bottoming out in many locations in the upper teens. From this point on we’re going to slowly warm up through the weekend. As temperatures climb today, roads will clear out nicely by noon, and we can resume normal activities in the Houston area.
Cold status
Temperatures have fallen into the upper teens to lower 20s for most of the Houston metro area this morning, with a hard freeze firmly in place. This has allowed water on roadways to freeze again, and created hazardous conditions in many locations around the region with “black ice.” Extreme caution should be taken if you are driving this morning before about noon. Roads may appear dry, but patchy ice will be difficult to discern. It would be much better to remain home until late morning, when air temperatures should warm sufficiently to melt the water.
Houston Intercontinental Airport and Galveston are currently experiencing their coldest temperatures since an Arctic Outbreak last January, and Hobby Airport since December 2022. It’s notably colder to our east, in Texas and parts of Louisiana. Beaumont is having its coldest morning since 1906.
Arctic outbreak visualized
When we talk about an “Arctic air mass,” it essentially means that the cold air near the North Pole is displaced further south. This week it has moved over pretty much the entire continental United States. Meteorologist Ben Noll displayed this nicely on Tuesday, with a map showing the air temperatures around the planet relative to normal levels from 1991 to 2020. As you can see, the Arctic is much warmer than normal, whereas the United States significantly colder.
Wednesday
After our very cold start this morning, temperatures will climb above freezing across the metro area by 10 to 11 am. This will begin the melting process on area roads, which will accelerate by noon as temperatures reach about 40 degrees. Highs today may get all the way into the mid-40s, with sunny skies and light winds. Any lingering moisture on roads may re-freeze again on Wednesday night, but my sense is that that sunshine today will dry most everywhere out. We’ll see. Lows on Wednesday night will drop to about 30 degrees in Houston, with slightly cooler conditions in outlying areas.
Thursday and Friday
These will be a pair of sunny days, with highs of around 50 degrees and generally light winds. There’s a chance that Houston sees a very light freeze on Thursday night, but by Friday night the region should remain in the upper 30s.
Saturday and Sunday
With the high pressure currently dominating our weather long gone by the weekend, expect highs near 60 degrees with partly sunny skies. Some light rain chances return Saturday evening, and then we are likely to see fairly widespread showers on Sunday. Accumulations don’t look serious, but it’s kind of a shame that our first reasonably warm day (mid- to upper-60s) in a while will be rainy outside.
Next week
Speaking of rain, there should be a fair amount of it next week as a front stalls over the area. In addition to daily chances, much of the period looks to be cloudy, with highs generally in the 60s and lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s. There is no sign, at least yet, of an additional significant freeze after this week.
Bring on spring!!
It cannot come soon enough.
This has to be a joke. Bring on more cold before we have 115 days of hellscape weather! 😉
Nope. No joke. I grew up in Wisconsin and live in Texas because of the heat and humidity. I love it.
Low this morning at my house in Sienna was 14F-15F at around 6:30 am, depending on which PWS I looked at. Water in house is still flowing, and my pool is still pumping. May this super cold air PLEASE go away!
Reminds me of an old joke we used to tell up north about what the Canadians can do with their cold air mass……
I have many friends and former co-workers in Edmonton and Calgary. They are all saying it is much warmer than normal up there. Very little snow even.
Bottomed out at 16F here….. 6F below wunderground.com’s forecast but as I recall only 2F below what I saw here.
A buddy texted me this AM from Lafayette, LA saying it was 4°F at his house.🥶
KLCH time series from overnight showing Lake Charles reached a low of 6 deg F.
“I have never developed indigestion from eating my own words”. – Winston Churchill
I was skeptical that the amount of frozen precipitation the models were forecasting for our area would pan out. Looking back at different times both the GFS and the Euro were forecasting some type of the frozen precipitation and frigid temperatures as early as ten days out. That is pretty impressive. They clearly are getting better and better “as time goes by”. You would expect them to get better as AI models progress.
I was also skeptical when some of the “usual suspects” stated that these arctic outbreaks were going to become a thing of the past and our temps were only going up. It seems that skepticism was well founded as this is the fourth time in the last five years we have dropped into the teens at my house in Friendswood.
Thanks to SCW for doing a good job keeping us informed with the latest hype free weather information. “I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
The temperatures will keep swinging from one extreme to another in an attempt to balance out, until the cold air really has fled (temperature entropy) and acquired a uniform global resting state of hot and still, maybe like Pangaea.
(except the continents are spread out, so maybe we’ll keep some circulation)
That’s my idea of it, anyway. So, I expect swings and I expect amped up activity until a uniformity of some sort kicks in.
Temperatures have been swinging from one extreme to another for millennia and the “average” temp is only a smoothing of these extremes.
Yeah Texas got so cold in February 1899 that part of the Galveston Bay froze. Cold spells in the south are clearly nothing new or unique. In August 1909, Houston had a heatwave where the temperature got up to 108. This was before the urban heat island effect mind you.
The Great Texas Snowstorm of 1895 – Brownsville, Texas recorded 5 inches of snow (a record that still stands today).
In February 1895, a historic blizzard swept across the Texas coast, bringing unprecedented snowfall to a region typically known for its warm climate.
Cities like Houston and Galveston saw over 20 inches of snow, while even Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley received a significant 5 inches.
That’s exactly the point. Right now they’re swinging out of the range of the Holocene and outside of most human experience.
We’ll (eventually) see how far they’ll swing.
Let’s hope it’s not completely to entropy.
Think in terms of hundreds of millions of years.
I’m sure I’m one of the “usual suspects” but I never said that cold snaps were going to be a thing of the past but that average temperatures during the winter and all other seasons would go up which is happening. One cold January in Texas does not contradict the overall warming trend that has taken place over the past 10 years globally
That feels creepy Gale
🙄🤫
Usual suspects? Who?
The experts have been talking about weather extremes as the planet warms. Which is what is happening.
Unless my thermometers are broken, it only got down to 28 in the Rice U area. Don’t know how that works, but I’ll take it.
I absolutely love this cold weather. What a treat. We get just enough snow to play and take a day off without months of snow boots and slushy floors. And just enough chill to cozy by a fire and hibernate after the holiday busy, but still can run to the grocery store without 29 layers on. This is truly one is the best times of year in Texas — mostly mild with a handful of times that we get to dress up like northerners. Far better than summer in my opinion! I feel as spry as my Labrador hopping in snow piles. I love this website and the work you guys are doing.
Yes!! I’m with you 100%! I actually love having some semblance of 4 real seasons.
I like this much better than summer, especially when summer lasts till Halloween.
Oh what in the world. I bet there are lots of grocery workers and policemen and firefighters who love the snow.
There was, in fact, a story of first responders/police/fire, etc. having fun in the snow with snowballs!!!!
Two days of this – ugh…conversely, during our 8 months of Summer here, I’m sure the people who have to work to get those groceries ready or the EMT teams or center point employees… hospitals, police, fire. Who have to put up with weather like that and risk their lives in the heat & humidity…yadda yadda yadda…
You can always put more layers on but you cant take them off to a point that you escape wet bulb temperature. I’m shocked by the people who think that is normal.
Thanks for all you do!
On the global air temperature map – I wish that organization would make the COLD air masses blue, and the warmer ones in the red. It’s counterintuitive and breaking my brain!
They do 🙂
I like cooler temperatures but not this cold for our area. It is too bad we couldn’t transfer 10 degrees from a day in August and match it with a day this week to offset each other for a happier middle.
Instead of 45 degrees, it would be a balmy 55 degrees and that August day would be 85 rather than 95. Repeat it for 4 days.
Forgot to drip all of my faucets but one last night and now there’s no water flow from any of my faucets.
Wait it out until the temps rise?
When will people be able to uncover their begonias in Katy?
Asking for a friend.
The begonias are most likely goners, even covered.
Well bless your heart, Joy.
My begonias spent the freeze in my garage and are doing quite well. I’ll drag them out tomorrow so they can enjoy the sun, bless their little buds.
I’ve yet to see how my kalanchoes fared under several layers of freeze cloth accompanied by a couple of strings of Christmas lights. Hopefully all will be well with them. I know you are all as anxious as I am if they survived, I’ll report back later when I uncover the little darlings and expose them to the rude air.
27 in Montrose! And those of y’all mentioning running to the grocery store – wow, we are short on a lot of stuff. 😀 Westheimer/Galleria area is relatively clear to drive on. I did go 15 MPH on some spots, but gotta say it was the same for most of the other people. And as much as I love chill, I’ll take 60 over this any day (although that snow was pretty).
In my opinion, yall are simply the best and most trusted source for weather. Thank you for always being cautious without being hysterical.
I love how we Houstonians say in the summer: “Man, I can’t wait until winter!” But now we’re saying: “Man, I can’t wait until summer!”
You will never hear me say that.
My thermometer read 15 here in Sweeny at 7am. It is now 37 and warming with full sunshine. All the leftover snow accumulation will be gone in no time.
I’m willing to make a bet that this was the peak of winter. We will probably still get cold at times in February but we will not get a cold snap like this again for the rest of the season. We typically only see one cold snap of this magnitude once in a season.
Does that mean it’s okay to plant my daffodils?
Asking for a friend
The GEFS models are predicting another Arctic blast coming in February.
And the models never lie.
not true. Ive checked and there is nothing there yet
It is interesting that both northern Europe and North America are having lower than normal temperatures whilst the rest of the world – including the two poles – are above average.
Watching the world’s temperatures going through paroxysms of anguish is like watching the absurd antics in Washington unfold.
Lol, yeah
There has been some speculation by scientists that the earth’s magnetic poles may be flipping. This has occurred to the planet before. This could be causing the strange weather patterns we have been experiencing. Hurricanes happening later and later in the year. Seasons not changing when they used to. Warmer polar regions and greater instability in the atmosphere. More frequent oscillations between La Niña and ElNino. Snow falling in Houston. Don’t deny the science.
The reversal of the magnetic poles has no effect on climate and the weather has always been wacky on Earth. Snow in Houston is not that weird either. It happens like once a decade sometimes twice in a decade. When you research weather history then you will not believe in such conspiracy theories.
The magnetic N is always wandering around; it’s never been static.
Yes, poles flip. If you want the record, it’s in the seafloor spreading. NBD.
Move on.
Freezes like this used to be commonplace back in the 1970s and 80s. It’s happening again with more frequency so young people think it’s something new and it’s not.
It wasn’t this commonplace. This is new.
Multiple years in the 70’s & 80’s Houston area got down in the low 20’s or into the teens. Since 2000, Houston has had 11 years where the temperature never got below 30 degrees.
Now for the 45 days of triple digit heat that we will probably get this summer
Good visual
Katy still has some snow and ice left. I’m thinking there will still be some icy patches on the roads tonight and tomorrow morning.
Water can melt?
Only half my snow has melted, even still have some on tree limbs! I might still have snow until the weekend at this rate (not complaining – it’s been a treat as I haven’t seen this in forever (grew up in NJ).
It will certainly all melt tomorrow. It’s going to be in the mid 50s tomorrow afternoon with sunshine.
I like turtles