Ice Storm Cometh

There’s really no change to the thinking behind the forecast for this next wave of winter weather across the south central U.S. This is going to cause more problems in more areas than the snowfall on Sunday. The main reason for that is while temperatures at the surface haven’t yet climbed back above freezing in most of Texas and Louisiana at the surface, they are climbing back above freezing about a mile up in the atmosphere. So, that means that the precipitation that falls through the sky will first melt into water, and then instantly freeze once it hits the ground, or tree limbs, or power lines.

So, here’s a series of snapshots of what we’re looking at over the next 48 hours, starting at midnight tonight. Remember, blue is snow, green is rain, and the purple-pink stuff is ice, sleet, and general wintery nastiness.

Midnight tonight.

7 AM Wednesday

Noon Wednesday

7 PM Wednesday

Midnight tomorrow night

If I had to choose a meteorological term to describe this, it’s, “Yuck.”

For everyone south of I-30 but north of a line from Austin to Lufkin to Alexandria to Natchez, do not attempt to drive during this winter weather event. The roads are already bad due to the ice and snow from the weekend, and what’s coming will make bad roads absolutely treacherous. Make sure you power up all of your phones and electronic devices tonight, and don’t use them until you need them tomorrow. It’s quite possible you will lose power on Wednesday. For many people in that zone, it’s not just possible, but it’s likely.

The good news is we’ll warm up above freezing for most places by the weekend. But, it’s going to be a nasty couple of days until that happens.