Meanwhile, here on Tuesday evening.
You can see the leading
edge of the Arctic air.
Notice that Kansas City is at 20,
and then it plummets to 4.
Omaha NE Dodge City at 15.
N Platts at 8:30 in Casper,
9 below in billing.
So, you know, here's the leading
edge of our Arctic frontal boundary,
Chicago 26 on the other
side of that boundary,
Des Moines at 5 degrees
in Bismarck at 11 below.
So that's the leading edge of
the Arctic boundary and it's,
it's basically stationary right now.
What's going to happen is low
pressure is going to form,
and then as it scoots through
during the day on Thursday,
as it moves through the counterclockwise
rotation around that surface,
low will then drive the front S,
and that's what we'll dislodge and
move that Arctic air mass to the South.
It's part of a sprawling,
bitter cold Siberian air mass
temperature colder up here in
northern Canada than yesterday.
At this time it's 50 below 0 at
CarMax Barrows, 12 below Old Crow,
31 below White Horse,
35 below Prince Albert's.
26 below Winnipeg at 18 below Fargo's 21.
Below 0 coldest spot in the nation
right now and so this sprawling,
bitter cold Arctic air mass.
All of this is about to be dislodged.
And pushed S southeast.
We all remember the freeze
we had February 2021.
During that surge of Arctic Siberian air,
it came due S right down
through Texas and New Mexico.
This one is going to go a
little further to the east,
the heart of it.
So the coldest temperatures will
be in Nashville and northern
Alabama and Georgia will be
colder there than it is in Texas.
With this particular time,
the trajectory is just a little
bit more to the east than in 2021.
And that actually is going to
save us from having a similar,
you know, devastating freeze
where this is going to be cold,
it won't be as cold or cold for
as long as we were back in 2021.
Jet stream pattern,
you know,
here's where our bitter cold air is
and you can see how it's just filling
in right through the base of the trough.
But notice the base of the trough,
here's, you know,
there's the axis right there.
So the coldest of the air
is going to end up here.
When we had in 2021 that through
access was right down the middle
of Texas and the coldest air.
With that, one came right into the state.
So here's the big picture forecast.
We go into Thursday,
this is Thursday at noon,
and at that point it's 24 in Dallas,
while we are just enjoying a beautiful
day at 65 degrees here in Houston.
But it won't last.
By the time we get into Thursday evening,
temperatures are dropping to
and below freezing by 7:30,
so it's a little after sunset.
Houston Harris County's below freezing.
Then.
We won't get back above freezing
until Saturday afternoon.
And then temperatures plummet into the
teens as we head into early Friday morning.
Let's take a closer look at that.
So here's Thursday.
We get into 2:30 in the afternoon
and look at the temperature.
Contrast 70 in Angleton while it's 2
degrees above freezing in College Station,
and notice how tightly.
These isotherms are packed.
So we're going to have a very quick 2025
degree temperature drop as this comes in.
Just, you know, within minutes
you're going to drop 2025 degrees and
then it will just continue to drop.
So there will be no misunderstanding.
When the cold air reaches your neighborhood,
you will know it.
And then by 5:30 in the afternoon,
let's see our freeze line already.
You know Conroe Cleveland,
Hwy 105 freeze line by 5:30 in the afternoon,
Thursday afternoon by 7:30,
Freeze Line is right here.
Including Pearland and Pasadena.
And then as we get into Thursday overnight,
it just plunges and we're going to drop down.
Into the teens latest runs.
This is the latest update,
7:00 AM Friday morning.
Angleton at 19, Pearland at 17.
Houston Downtown 17 degrees, spring at 15.
Huntsville going to 13.
Just bitter cold and this will be a
wind driven cold and this will be
the coldest morning of the bunch.
Friday,
Friday morning going into Saturday morning
it's upper teens and then a Sunday morning,
Christmas morning,
we're in the 20s.
As we mentioned,
there's a wind component to this.
So the wind is a wind gust forecast.
It will be windy as Thursday night
and early Friday morning by Friday
7:00 AM actually the gusts are
beginning to subside a little bit,
but still gusting 25 to 30 inland,
you know, 35 to 40 on the coast.
Those are the gusts,
just to 40 that could begin to break
a branch or two or to have a a tree
bend over and touch a power line.
So isolated power outages.
I think at worst that's good.
But the wind chills are just devastating.
We're not used to this.
So wind chill,
when wind blows across your exposed skin,
it does a couple of things.
First of all,
it causes the moisture on your
skin to evaporate.
That's evaporative cooling
cooling you off it.
Also you know the hairs on your body,
they kind of hold a
little thin layer of heat,
so the wind hitting that and
blowing across it just blows that
little thin layer of protective
heat away from your body.
So that's why the wind has such a
factor in how it feels and wind chill
factor temperatures Conroe will feel
like 3 below 0 Friday, 7:00 AM.
Say Huntsville 4 below 0.
Brenham 2 below, 0.
Seeley 2 below, 0 Liberty 2 below,
0 S of I-10, you're above zero.
Well, new Golf at zero.
Pearland will feel like 1 degree above.
Galveston 6 above.
We're not used to that,
so I would encourage you to
stay inside if you
gotta go outside and make sure
everything is bundled up, covered up,
and you want to get exposed skin
out there as little as possible.
That will get you in trouble very
quickly if you're out there for too
long and getting too much exposure.
So let's talk a little bit closer.
Look at the numbers going into
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
So again, low temperature, 17 or so in
downtown on Christmas on Friday morning.
Saturday morning is Christmas Eve.
I've got a low of 19.
And then we finally get back above freezing,
a high of 39 Christmas Eve afternoon,
that's Saturday afternoon,
Sunday's Christmas Day low of 23.
And then we warm to 46.
Notice a couple of things.
We do have sunshine.
No winter.
Precipitation is forecast at
all with this event.
That's good.
So you can drive around,
you can get stuff done.
You can go to the store and get.
It was just going to be very cold.
But it will be beautiful.
It's going to be very unusual.
I'm kind of curious to see how it looks.
This is really going to be
a beautiful weather event,
although it is an extreme weather event.
And if you're like me,
like to see these things every now and then,
it's really fascinating.
One of the things so that 23 Christmas
morning that forecast if that does
indeed verify it will be one of
the coldest Christmas mornings
that Houston has ever recorded.
So these are the record.
Coldest Christmases we've had top 583.
We had a morning low of 11.
I remember that Christmas,
one of my most favorite Christmases of
all wonderful. Everything frozen over.
You know as a budding meteorologist
it was just fascinating. I loved it.
89 had that ice and sleet with the cold.
Morning low.
Christmas morning was 20, so 23,
so that would fit right in here.
Warmer. Excuse me.
Yeah, colder than 1990, but warmer than 89.
So 23 would, if it verifies me,
the third coldest Christmas morning
that Houston has ever measured.
Let's see, 1924.
We had a Christmas morning at
27 degrees and 85.
29 interesting, the 80s eighty 5.
8389 and then 1990 we had a cluster
of very cold Christmas mornings
from 85 to 1990 within a well,
excuse me, from 83 to 1990 within
about a seven or eight-year span.
OK, so here's tomorrow.
Get it done tomorrow if you've got
exposed pipes that need to be covered.
42 in the morning, 58 in the afternoon.
Just a gorgeous, gorgeous December day.
And by the way, by the calendar.
Winter begins tomorrow.
It's the winter solstice.
It's the shortest day of the year tomorrow.
And then by the thermometer,
winter begins on Thursday.
Now we'll make it into the 60s in the early
afternoon in Houston before that front
comes in and just plunges those temps.
So don't let these numbers mislead you.
We're going to plunge, you know,
below freezing by the time we get to sunset.
So it will happen very quickly.
Make sure whatever you're doing on Thursday,
we've got to get out in the morning
and not be home till the afternoon.
You take a coat with you.
And then there we are, 1831,
we stay below freezing all day Friday,
19 and then 38. You know,
we don't get above freezing until Saturday.
And I need,
I probably need to adjust this down to 17.
It looks like we're going to go down
to at least 17 on Friday morning.
23 Sunday morning for Christmas Eve.
Hi Santa. Santa loves this.
Just make sure you and your family
are staying safe and warm, OK?
President, CEO, CEO,
Vice President,
chairman of our social media
and digital platforming.
Randy is here to take your questions
and I'll repeat them and so let
let's go Facebook or what do we got?
Neil wants to. They're gonna be on the coast.
Daniel, that's a great question.
So when will the worst of the
winds reach the coast? So let's.
In fact, let's take a look at the
bear with me for just a moment
to back this up a little bit.
That's a great question.
That's going to be Thursday night.
So. Let's back up.
It looks like.
Thursday night, Friday morning.
So these are peak winds.
This is about as strong as the
winds going to get and it's 2:00
AM Friday morning. So Daniel,
that's the answer to your question.
2:00 AM Friday morning is when our
forecast models indicate that's
when the strongest winds will blow,
gusting to 43 in Galveston.
Now remember, minimal tropical storm force,
39 mile an hour winds.
That's a tropical storm force.
Gusts not sustained but gust. You know,
gusts in your 30 in downtown Houston,
31 in Sugarland, Wharton, 36,
Huntsville gusting to near 30.
So those are your peak wind gusts
in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Good question.
We have a couple of questions
about. Slightest chance.
Both Annie and Lori are asking about snow.
Annie Laurie, I don't know.
Everybody else probably wants to know.
Is there any chance,
any indication of snow?
And there really isn't.
The only hint of any type of precip
is there may be a thin band of very
light precipitation as the front
comes in in our NE like up here.
As the front comes in Thursday
afternoon and evening.
But there is there's no indication
that it's going to be able to turn
over to snow before it exits,
even if it's able to form.
And so the answer to the question is no,
we are not expecting any chance right now
for any type of frozen precipitation.
This looks very cold,
very sunny and very dry.
And I understand we all would
love to see Snow for Christmas.
It just doesn't look like it's
going to happen with this.
Sonia wants to know if she should
turn off the water from the meter.
Well. You know,
so as far as pipes and water,
it depends on your situation.
If if you're in a.
A mobile home that has a lot of
exposed pipes going into it and
maybe it's not the best insulated
or a structure that just doesn't
have any insulation to it.
You know, the pipes in a structure
like that are going to be much more
susceptible than in a traditional
home on a foundation or or peer and
beam if you're going to be home and
you're going to be running your heat.
So so my house in the Houston area,
I'm not draining any pipes.
I'm not turning off any water
because I'm gonna be home.
I'm gonna be running my
heater and so the heat,
it will keep the pipes and the exterior
walls and in your attic from freezing.
Now one thing you can do is while you're
running your heat in your house and
you know keep it at 6568 degrees and
you can open the the cabinet drawers.
If you've got a sink that's against
an exterior wall you can open the so
that the the warmer air gets in there.
One other thing you can do for
attic pipes is you can open the.
Attic access.
You know where the stairs are,
you pull that down,
you leave it.
Just leave it open and warmth
from the house will go up into
the attic and it will keep it.
In general,
that will keep Houston pipes from
freezing even in the coldest of of weather.
So.
Every every situation is unique.
I don't know your exact situation,
but as far as in general if
you're home and your heat is on,
you're going to be home.
Open the drawer the the cabinet doors
to pipes like sinks and faucets that
have an exterior wall and open up
your attic access so warmth from
the heat can get up in the attic.
And you should be fine.
That should do it.
It's if you're leaving,
you've got to have that heat running or yeah,
you'd want to drain your pipes
and and and turn off the water
if you're not going to be home
for an extended period of time.
I hope that answers your question.
Frederick wants to know, and this
is what I haven't heard before.
You need to bring his propane tanks in.
I I'm not an expert on that.
I I have had propane tanks.
I I've I've never brought them in.
They've been out in the cold.
In one of the one home I had.
I had it outdoor,
little outdoor kitchen,
a little BBQ out there.
I had the propane tank underneath it,
and now I never brought that in.
So my personal experience is no,
they would be fine.
But I'm I'm not an expert on propane tanks.
OK, yeah, we did get one.
Right. How cold is it gonna get in,
Katie, let's just back this up.
We'll look at these these
lows just one more time.
So this will be the coldest
morning Friday morning.
Thursday night, Ohh,
and again these temperatures come with a wind
gusting to 30 inland and 40 on the coast.
So what have we got here?
Houston at 17, Sugarland at 16, Seeley at 15.
So you know I've got Sugar Land a little too
far north here on this map just to fit it in.
But Katie, you're looking at 16 degrees,
that's how cold it will get in.
Katy forecast 2 by Friday morning.
Pearland 17, Angleton 19,
Galveston 23, Liberty 15, Conroe 14.
Huntsville and Livingston both
down to 13 Friday morning.
That is going to be a brutally cold morning.
We will any more.
Questions, Randy.
OK the Vice president,
CEO, President,
Chairman thank you Randy for giving us
the questions and we'll we'll have a
next live update on the TV side in case
you 11 news at 10:00 O'clock tonight.
And we will give you another update
on the latest forecast as to what's
going on as a freeze approaches
tomorrow at about this time at
about 8:00 o'clock so you can join
us then until then just you know
exposed pipes need to be wrapped
up the faucets pipes under your
house if you're appearing beam.
And that exposed irrigation pipe that
everybody has a little venturi valve.
If you got an irrigation system,
wrap that up.
What I'm going to do with that
is I'm going to get some old
incandescent Christmas lights.
The ones that actually have
a little a filament,
they give off a little bit of heat.
I'm going to wrap that around
my my irrigation venturi valve
and then wrap that in a blanket.
And then duct tape it.
And I'm hoping that doesn't burst
because those always seem to burst
and they cost several 100 bucks
and I'd rather not spend that.
So that's one that's,
you know, hot tip on that one.
Sometimes that works.