Strong cold front could bring a chance of snow to Texas

Texas weather: It’s nothing if not unpredictable. It’s been a hot week or two considering we’re in the throes of winter – there’s nearly been record-setting days in Texas where cities are approaching 100 degrees in February – but a cold front sweeping the nation could bring temps to a much milder place. There may even be some snow in areas currently plagued by wildfires and hot, windy weather.

“A strengthening winter storm with trailing cold front will continue to progress across the central U.S. today then the eastern U.S. on Wednesday,” a National Weather Service alert reads. “Areas of heavy snow, severe thunderstorms, record high temperatures, high winds, and critical fire weather are expected due to the storm. Another storm system is likely to spread heavy rain and snow with strong winds across the West later this week.”

While much of that wild winter weather is headed for areas of the U.S. north and west of Texas, it is slated to bring some rather drastic temperature changes to the Lone Star State. Amarillo is currently seeing temperatures in the 70s, like Dumas and other cities in the Texas Panhandle, but the fire-ridden region will see lows in the 20s and 30s Tuesday night headed into Wednesday. Further, NWS says Amarillo has a 30% chance of seeing snow Thursday afternoon – a wild yo-yo considering the unseasonably warm temperatures plaguing the region over the past couple weeks.

Much of Texas has seen above-average temperatures over the past couple weeks, especially headed into Monday, February 26, and the Texas Gulf Coast hasn’t been immune to the heat.

“Well above average temperatures today with a medium to high chance of 100+ degrees within the hatched area,” the National Weather Service Corpus Christi office tweeted Tuesday morning. “Strong winds persist across Coastal waters, resulting in small craft advisory conditions. Tonight is expected to be mild with light and variable winds inland.”

But things are about to cool down in Corpus Christi, slightly. Instead of rivaling 100-degree days, the cold front crossing the country is supposed to bring the coastal highs down to the mid 70s, even dipping down to 67 on Thursday. And lows will be mild, hovering around the low 60s through the end of the week.

The Alamo City has seen nearly 90-degree days start of the week, but it may actually start to feel a bit like winter in San Antonio with this cold front – a South Central Texas winter, anyway. You may not quite need those winter coats for this bout of chilly days, but it’ll certainly call for some conscientious layering.

Highs will dip by a drastic 30 degrees from the start of the week, dipping down into the mid 50s by Thursday, February 29. And the lows will be notable too, according to the National Weather Service, as they’ll nearly approach the 40s for the first time in a while.

“Well above normal temperatures and dry weather continues through Tuesday night,” the National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio office tweeted Sunday. “A front Wednesday morning brings chilly weather back to the area through Thursday night. A few light showers are possible over northern counties late Wednesday and Thursday.”

The Texas Hill Country could see even cooler temperatures headed into the weekend, with the lows dipping down into the upper 30s and low 40s.