January 2017 -Warming Trend To End The Month

[BlueJay]

Currently experiencing very cold rain but do not detect any sleet yet.
Brrrr! Welcome to winter!

[srainhoutx]

NWS Austin/San Antonio reporting freezing drizzle across San Antonio to near Austin and along I-10 in their forecast area. Also NWS Dallas/Ft Worth reporting snow flurries across most of the Metroplex.

[tgal]

FYI- There is a beautiful, fluffy snow falling in DFW right now. The kind we don't see in Houston. You can make out the shape of each snowflake. I am one happy camper

[srainhoutx]

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX
907 AM CST Fri Jan 6 2017

Bastrop-Lee-Guadalupe-Caldwell-Fayette-Gonzales-
Including the cities of...Bastrop...Giddings...Seguin...
Lockhart...La Grange...Gonzales
907 AM CST Fri Jan 6 2017

...Light Freezing Drizzle Expected This Morning...

Patches of light freezing drizzle are expected this morning
across the area. Amounts will be light due to very dry air at the
surface. Therefore, only light icing of elevated bridges and
roadways is anticipated at this time.

The precipitation is expected to move east of the region by early
afternoon as highs only reach the lower to mid 30s.

[srainhoutx]

Getting moderate sleet with a thin glaze of ice developing on elevated metal surfaces in NW Harris County now.

[Heat Miser]

FYI- There is a beautiful, fluffy snow falling in DFW right now. The kind we don't see in Houston. You can make out the shape of each snowflake. I am one happy camper

I beg to differ. We do in fact get fluffy snow down here, I have witnessed it on more than a few occasions.
Rare, but it does happen.

[srainhoutx]

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
1024 AM CST Fri Jan 6 2017

.AVIATION...
Recent update to metro area TAF sites to include a tempo of a
light rain and sleet mix. There have been social media reports of
sleet around the Tomball and the Cinco Ranch area...but no reports
from Hooks Airport just southeast of Tomball nor Bush-Intercontinental
Airport. The lower few thousand feet have begun to fall below freezing
and...within this saturated layer there is probably enough lift
(along the mid-level cold front) to produce this wintery mix.
Light icing may occur through this lower 2 to 4k ft layer. 31

[StormOne]

Never thought I'd ever hear thunder and see sleet falling at the exact same time. I was wrong.

[MontgomeryCoWx]

Craziest weather event I've ever been apart of was the Christmas week storm of 1989. I was 7 in Longview, TX.

I was helping my Dad rake leaves and do the yard and it was 75 degrees and starting to Thunderstorm. Cold front hits and 2 hours later it is 28 with Thunder Sleet, which then transitioned over to Thunder Snow. We had 1-2 inches of sleet with 2-3 inches of snow on top. Temp plunged to -2F that week.

It was the hook, line and sinker for me and Winter Weather. I fell in love. That storm is also the standard bearer for adrenaline rushing weather events. I've been in Hurricanes, Tornadoes and other Winter Weather situations, and nothing has topped those several hours in 1989.

[srainhoutx]

The GFS is suggesting another shot of Arctic Air arrives next weekend. The rollercoaster pattern looks to continue...

[srainhoutx]

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
1047 AM CST FRI JAN 6 2017

Harris TX-Chambers TX-Brazoria TX-Waller TX-Liberty TX-Montgomery TX-
Fort Bend TX-
1047 AM CST FRI JAN 6 2017

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS HARRIS...LIBERTY...SOUTHEASTERN
WALLER...NORTHWESTERN CHAMBERS...SOUTHEASTERN MONTGOMERY...
NORTHWESTERN BRAZORIA AND FORT BEND COUNTIES THROUGH 1215 PM CST...

At 1038 AM CST, Doppler radar was tracking thunderstorms near
Kingwood, moving east at 10 mph. There are also reports of a rain
sleet mixture across the northern and western parts of Harris
County. As of now...there are no reports of ice accumulations on
roadways or elevated bridges or roadways. Precipitation will be
shifting east of the area over the next few hours. There is a chance
that elevated roadways north of the city may become slick this next
hour or two. Slight afternoon warming will likely inhibit any
formation of ice on roadways in and around the Houston metro area.

Locations impacted include...
Northwestern Pasadena, northwestern Pearland, Sugar Land,
northwestern Baytown, Missouri City, Deer Park, Rosenberg, Stafford,
South Houston, Bellaire, Humble, West University Place, Katy,
Richmond, Galena Park, Jacinto City, Liberty, Jersey Village, Dayton
and Brookshire.

[srainhoutx]

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
1054 AM CST Fri Jan 6 2017

.UPDATE...
Made small changes to the temperature forecast to account for
the latest observations and trends in numerical guidance. Current
precip forecast remains on track with what radar and the short term
guidance is providing. The sleet band seen on radar stretching north
of I-10 mainly across Harris and moving into Liberty county is
continuing to shift east and eventually will move out of the region.
Have received reports of sleet in the area, but no accumulation is
expected as temperatures in that area are above freezing. Localized
pockets of freezing rain have also been reported. Instability
associated with a small shortwave migrating across SE Texas, is
producing some convection within the bands seen on radar, with
isolated cells producing lightning. Short term guidance such as the
HRRR and Texas WRF are in agreement regarding most of the moisture
to shift SE and push out over the Gulf of Mexico around 21 to 23Z
this evening.

Hathaway

[jasons2k]

I happened to be in Birmingham, AL during the "1993 Superstorm of the Century".

16" of snow at my grandparent's house. We had thundersnow all night. It was creepy and the strangest sounding thunder I have ever heard. The snow does something to the sound waves and it reverberates for a long time. And the lightning show, with the snow at night, also creepy the way it reflects. It was like daylight in the middle of the night. Hard to describe. We lost power for a week. I then came back to Texas for spring break for a week. The phone and cable was finally restored the day I got back to Birmingham, two weeks after the storm.

I also got lucky and was in New York City for the blizzard of 2006, when over 26" fell in Central Park. At that time, it was their highest snowfall ever..until last year. It was something. We were scheduled to fly home that morning as it was unfolding, but the fight was still scheduled. So we headed to the airport. Newark. When we got to check-in, the PA system came on announcing the airport was officially closing and all flights were cancelled until further notice. I happened to see a hotel shuttle van, ran outside and chased him down as he was leaving, and we literally got the very last available hotel room in Newark that night. The driver had to radio-in for the desk to hold our room.

We spent the evening watching the local NYC news coverage...and were very thankful when they reported live from Newark airport - hundreds of travelers were piled-up on the floor and on cots sleeping at the terminal, & we counted our blessings that we had found a hotel...with an onsite restaurant to boot.

[StormOne]

The GFS is suggesting another shot of Arctic Air arrives next weekend. The rollercoaster pattern looks to continue...

ECMWF shows the same arctic plunge for Nebraska. Was too lazy to check for SE TX, but judging by the fact that both models look the exact same temperature-wise, would guess ECMWF isn't far off from GFS in HTX either. Sadly, us Nebraskans may have to go thru yet ANOTHER brutal cold plunge with no snow on the ground.

[jasons2k]

Just got a hard freeze warning alert on my phone. Brrr. Can't wait until the 70's next week!!!

[srainhoutx]

Midday Update from Jeff:

Numerous reports of sleet across Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, and Liberty Counties.

Radar indicates a band of precipitation rain/mixed with sleet or in some cases turning over to all sleet along and just north of US 59. Surface temperatures have been holding in the mid 30’s so much of what is falling is melting on contact with the ground, however some of the heavier cells have been able to coat a few rooftops in Tomball and even a few lightning strikes have occurred suggesting lift from the incoming short wave is being maximized. In fact Cleveland has reported thunder with sleet in the last hour. Rain has actually switched over to freezing rain in northern Fort Bend County where recent images from Simonton show ice has formed on elevated tree limbs and decks and suspect the same thing is happening over Waller County and extreme NW Harris County (around Hockley and Waller) since the temperature at Tomball has fallen to 34.

While freezing line has progressed into about ½ of SE TX, there are generally no roadway impacts S or E of Fayette County where ground warmth is helping to keep bridges from icing. Elevated surfaces NW of a line from Wharton to Katy to Tomball to Conroe such as tree limbs, decks, fences, vehicles may accumulate a thin layer of ice.

Still getting reports from TXDOT of icing of bridges in Bastrop and now Fayette Counties. HWY 71 has been widely impacted this morning. Temperatures remain steady in the upper 20’s in this area and have fallen to 32 at Columbus. Not sure this area nor even our western counties will even get above freezing today given the continued cold air advection and wet bulb cooling in the precipitation.

[sambucol]

Freezing @31 degrees now in Baytown

[Ounce]

30 degrees at Katy Freeway and Chimney Rock. Just finished a shower and collected 0.08" over the day. Not noticing any trees or metal with icicles.

[jasons2k]

We've been getting rain and sleet off-and-on. Neighbors on NextDoor are starting to report some slick roads.

[wxman57]

Freezing @31 degrees now in Baytown

That seems a bit low, as all Weather Underground thermometers in your area are at 36-37. That 30 in Batown & near I-10/Chimney Rock appears closer to the dewpoint than the temperature. Perhaps the thermometers are wet and they're reporting wet bulb temps?