Hard freeze on the way tonight, as Houston nears the end of the cold wave

Good evening, everyone. We just want to freshen up the situation a bit for you this evening. Thank you to Eric for holding down the fort as I wrangled power, water, work, and children like so many of our readers the last couple days. I hope this finds you powered.

CenterPoint is still reporting about 15,000 customers without power. This means 99.5% of the Houston area should have power back now. Just over 350,000 customers are still without power across Texas, which is down from 620,000 this morning. Many of those are due to issues stemming from ice in recent days. Per ERCOT, we’re still in a tenuous situation, but it sounds a like things are much more stable than they have been.

So it goes. We encourage you to continue to conserve power so the overall situation continues to improve.

The water situation is still a bit difficult. A boil water notice continues in Houston and many other places.

The city of Houston is directing bottled water distribution through city council member offices, so we’d encourage you to reach out your representative’s office if you need access. As for other communities, please check their websites, social media feeds, etc. Various news media in the city have also put together lists for this.

If you or someone you know need something more urgently or can provide support to those that may have those needs, please utilize the Crowdsource Rescue website. This organization has been working tirelessly and doing great things.

I’d encourage our readers to drop any advice or information about other organizations doing important work through the freeze in the comments section.

On to the weather.

Tonight & tomorrow

It was nice to see the sun in much of the area today, and temperatures did push 40 degrees. Meanwhile, Del Rio saw 10 inches of snow. It’s been a weird, weird week, y’all.

Clear skies and diminishing winds will allow for another night of cold, cold temperatures.

Nighttime lows will be in the 20s for most areas away from the coast. (Weather Bell)

Nighttime lows will be in the 30s for Galveston, around 30 or upper-20s in the Bay Area and Chambers County, mid to upper 20s for the south side of Houston and Brazoria County, mid-20s north of Houston and Fort Bend County, and low-20s, with pockets of upper-teens possible in Montgomery County, Liberty County, and points north. Generally, the farther north and west you go, the colder it will be. Thus, a Hard Freeze Warning is in effect tonight for most of the region. Continue to keep pipes and plants fully protected, and make sure to check on people and bring pets inside.

The good news is that temperatures will recover quickly tomorrow. All areas should be back above freezing by late morning with full sunshine. Look for highs tomorrow to top out in the mid-40s in most places except the far northwest.

There will likely be another freeze tomorrow night, but temperatures will probably be about 3 to 6 degrees warmer than tonight. The finish line is in sight. I’ll have the latest on the rest of the forecast tomorrow morning, and I can almost promise to bore you to tears, which is exactly what I think we’re looking for right now.

Houston faces another hard freeze as power situation improves

Good morning. We’re continuing to get closer to the end of this Arctic blast, but we’re not there yet. The remaining concerns are icy roads and bridges this morning, and the potential for a hard freeze tonight, and again Friday night for areas well inland. We also have an update on the region’s improving power situation.

Thursday

A band of light winter precipitation is falling north of Houston this morning, bringing sleet and snow flurries north of a line from Brenham to Conroe, and this will continue to move to the northeast. This morning, for the northern half of the region, we’ll continue to see some icy spots on roads and bridges with temperatures at or just above freezing. For Houston, today will be cold and breezy, with highs generally rising to the mid-30s to about 40 degrees, and mostly cloudy skies. Winds out of the north will keep wind chill values below freezing.

Low temperature forecast for Thursday night. (Weather Bell)

As the atmosphere dries out this afternoon and evening, and skies clear, temperatures will again plunge tonight. Lows are likely from 15 to 25 inland of Highway 59/Interstate 69, and even coastal areas will likely see lows in the upper 20s to low 30s. For inland areas, this will raise additional concerns about pipes.

Friday

This day will be warmer, with highs climbing into the low to mid-40s area wide, and plenty of sunshine. A persistent northerly wind will still keep wind chills on the cooler side, however. Lows Friday night will likely drop below freezing for inland areas again on Friday night, but will stay several degrees warmer than Thursday night.

Low temperature forecast for Friday night. (Weather Bell)

Saturday and beyond

After Saturday morning we are finally done with the freezes. Highs Saturday should reach into the mid-50s, and by Sunday get into the 60s. A mild cool front will bring some slight rain chances into the region on Sunday night, and first half of next week looks quite decent. Highs will mostly be in the 60s, with lows in the 40s and 50s. We should continue to see plenty of sunshine. There are no additional Arctic fronts on the horizon.

Power

Power generating plants are finally coming back online and we’ve seen significant decreases in power outages overnight. As you may recall, about 4.4 million Texas households and businesses were without power on Tuesday morning, and that number was about 3 million on Wednesday. This morning, about 620,000 customers are without power across the state, and there have been significant improvements in the greater Houston area. (For example, about 120,000 of 160,000 customers in Galveston County remained without power on Wednesday. This morning, the number of outages is down to 8,600.) We can probably expect some rolling outages today and tomorrow, but the worst of this situation seems to be passing. Please, please continue to conserve power so that service may be restored to all.

Water

City of Houston officials have said they expect the city’s water system to become fully operational by the end of today. The boil water notice in effect for Houston, and many surrounding areas, is likely to continue for a longer period of time.

 

More very cold weather coming—power sure would be nice

This week Houston has survived a freakish snow and ice storm, extreme cold, and bout of freezing rain. So what else does Old Man Winter have to throw our way? Well, my friends, there is just one last sting in the tail, then it looks like this mess will be over.

At least from the standpoint of weather—in terms of electricity and water, that is another issue entirely. As of this evening, about 2.3 million Texas homes and businesses remain without power, and about half of those are in the greater Houston area. For millions of your neighbors, the misery continues.

Wednesday night

In the wake of precipitation earlier today, cold air from yet another front is now moving into the Houston area. Temperatures will drop to freezing levels north of Interstate 10 tonight, and where ice or water remained on roads today, this will refreeze tonight. There is also the possibility of some light snow or sleet late tonight north of Interstate 10. In these areas you’ll need to watch for icy spots on roads through about noon on Thursday. Closer to the coast, a freeze is unlikely overnight.

Thursday and Thursday night

High temperatures on Thursday should get into the mid- to upper-30s. Brisk winds out of the north will knock wind chill temperatures below freezing. But at least we should be dry after lots of wintry precipitation. After a cloudy start, a bit of sunshine may peek out later in the afternoon on Thursday. This will be nice, but clearing skies also means we’ll see strong radiational cooling on Thursday night, with lows again dropping into the 20s on Thursday night.

It. damn. sure. would. be. nice. to. have. power. back. by. then. ERCOT.

Thursday night will be very cold. Friday night will, too. (Weather Bell)

Friday and beyond

After a cold start, sunshine should help temperatures warm into the low 40s on Friday, but with a northerly wind it will feel cold out all day. Low temperatures on Friday night will still be very cold, but should be a couple of degrees warmer than Thursday night.

Highs on Saturday should push into the 50s, and the threat of a freeze will finally be over.

Freezing rain falling across northern Houston, millions still without power

Good morning. The Houston area is now on day three of a miserable stretch of weather that has been magnified by widespread and ongoing power outages that seemingly have no end. Of the weather, we can at least say this, Houston is closer to the end of this Arctic blast than the beginning.

The freezing line at sunrise runs roughly along Interstate 10 this morning. (Weather Bell)

Wednesday

Generally light precipitation is falling across the metro area, and as anticipated this is simply rainfall south of the freezing line, and freezing rain to the north. Right now this line stretches roughly from Columbus to Katy to Cypress to Kingwood. This freezing line should lift slowly north to the northern edge of Harris County by around mid-morning, and to Highway 105 by around noon. (Here’s a list of current icy road conditions). Most of the region should be passable by noon as temperatures warm, but motorists along and north of Interstate 10 should take care on roads, especially bridges and elevated highways, until ice has melted.

Precipitation will begin to exit the area to the east by noon or shortly thereafter, leaving a cold and gray day in its wake. High temperatures today will generally reach about 40 degrees south of Interstate 10, and mid- to upper-30s north of the freeway. However, for inland areas—again, north of Interstate 10—temperatures will begin to approach freezing levels by around sunset or within a few hours after this. Depending on the extent to which roadways dried, any lingering water may freeze, and travel may remain treacherous in some locations. Lows will drop into the upper 20s for inland areas, and remain at or just above freezing closer to the coast.

Thursday night and Friday morning will be the last very cold conditions of the week. (Weather Bell)

Thursday

As additional cold air surges into the area on Wednesday night—and this is the final push of very cold air—we’ll see one more slight chance of precipitation in the form of snow or sleet during the morning hours. However, this is generally expected to be slight, and not pose additional problems on roadways. Highs should reach into the mid- to upper-30s on Thursday, with one more very cold night. Lows will drop into the 20s for much of the region.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

The weekend will see stair-stepping high temperatures of 40s on Friday, 50s on Saturday and 60s on Sunday. There will be plenty of sunshine. Houston is unlikely to see a freeze again this winter after Saturday morning, but after what we’ve been through this week I am making no guarantees.

Power outages

The catastrophic power outage continues across much of Texas, with 2.8 million customers still without power statewide as of 7:30 am Wednesday morning. This is down from 4.4 million on Tuesday morning, but about half of those losses are within the Houston metro area. State officials who manage the electric grid at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas have not been able to provide any reliable information about when power may be restored to all. This really is unacceptable in weather conditions such as these.