Cold front barreling toward Texas to plummet temperatures, develop storms

Another week means another cold front barreling toward Texas as the fall season finally sets in. There’s been significant temperature yo-yos since November crept in as northerners barely breech the Lone Star State borders. Another major cooldown will send temperatures plummeting. Though, it’ll bring some gloomy weather with it.

Texas weather can be difficult to predict. Forecasts earlier in October promised chilly days, but those fronts sweeping from the northern border took hard turns and skipped most of the state’s inner cities and towns. But it’s finally the time of year when those cold fronts make their way across the state. And this time, there’s some stormy weather tied in as well.

“Developing upper-level low along the California Coast moves southward to Northwestern Mexico by Wednesday. The system will produce rain along the West Coast and embedded thunderstorms over Central California, mainly through early Tuesday morning. Heavy snow will develop over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, mostly on Monday,” the Weather Prediction Center forecast reads.

While snow is in the cards for some areas north of Texas, particularly on mountains or elevated regions, even the northern most tip of Texas will have to wait a while longer for its first snow.

Between Monday and Friday, the Texas Panhandle will see a major temperature shift. Afternoon highs will dip by as much as 20 degrees between the start and end of the work week, and many towns in the region will see evenings dip below freezing or approach it.

In Dalhart, the northernmost town in the Texas Panhandle, should see this strong cold front hit by Wednesday night. A whopping 10-degree dip in afternoon highs will set in between Wednesday and Thursday, dipping from 69 degrees to 59. This should linger through the entire weekend, hitting evening lows even harder as they drop to a shivering 28 degrees by Friday night.

A little further south in Amarillo, the front should hit the same night and drop evening highs from the mid-70s to the low 60s. Over the weekend, peak temperatures may not even hit 60 degrees. And nights will be chillier too, dipping near freezing Friday and Saturday.

Rain odds loom over the entire region as the work week comes to an end, with the National Weather Service forecasting anywhere from a 20% to 60% chance of showers over the Panhandle between Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon.

This cold front sweeping Texas in the latter half of the week should bring some fall feels to North Texas by Thursday. Afternoon peak temperatures will drop roughly 20 degrees in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro between the start and end of the week, sinking from the upper 80s to the upper 60s by Saturday.

It won’t quite near freezing overnight in these North Texas metros, but major evening cooldowns could warrant jacket of a decent weight. Friday and Saturday are likely to bring lows in the upper 40s, according to the 10-day forecast from the National Weather Service’s DFW office.

Rain odds are even stronger in this region, spiking at 80% on Thursday. But they linger over the area between Wednesday and Sunday, ranging from a 20% chance up to 80%.

South Central Texas has missed out on a handful of cold fronts this fall that stalled out in northern half of the state. Though, stronger northern bursts are starting to encroach on these cities, like San Antonio and Austin, bringing some fall weather further past the northern borders of the Lone Star State. This time, it’ll bring temperatures down nearly 15 degrees from the start of the week to its end.

After several days of temperatures soaring into the upper 80s. By the time the sun is directly over the Alamo City on Saturday, it shouldn’t get any warmer than 76 degrees. By Sunday, that number drops to 72 degrees – a welcome reprieve from the summer-like days.

Evenings will be significantly cooler too, dipping into the upper 50s. Though, not exactly the icy bite of the air set to hit cities north of San Antonio, still a significant drop after a week of lows in the low 70s.

Much like the rest of the state, South Central Texas will face storm odds as the front sweeps in. The greater San Antonio-Austin area has the highest chances on Thursday, at around 80%, but thunderstorm chances linger between Tuesday and through the entire weekend, jumping between 20% and 80% odds throughout. While most of these storms shouldn’t become severe, hail is not out of the question.

“Guidance suggests that there is a 50-70% chance that some … could receive more than 2 inches of rain, and a 20-30% chance that these areas could receive over 3 inches between Wednesday and Friday morning. The Storm Prediction Center also has the area in a general risk for thunderstorms on Thursday, with the potential for some marginal hail to fall with any of the stronger storms that happen to form. At this time, thunderstorms are not forecasted to become severe,” the NWS San Antonio-Austin office reports.