Beautiful and mild Sunday, big cooldown next week

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A cold front moved in Saturday clearing out the clouds for Sunday, but a more powerful cold front next week could bring us the harshest freeze of the winter.

Mostly clear skies overnight will allow temperatures to drop to near 40 degrees Sunday morning. Mostly sunny skies are expected to continue into the afternoon… temperatures should warm into the mid 60s. Overall it will be a good day to keep the light jacket handy!

What can we expect for Sunday?

Clear skies Saturday night will allow for good radiational cooling and bring us a cold start Sunday. Lows will bottom out in the upper 30s and low 40s. Abundant sunshine will warm temperatures into the low 60s for Super Bowl Sunday.

Anything else to watch for tonight?

How about an ISS flyover? The ISS will be visible at 7:00pm tonight for 6 minutes, moving northwest to southeast.

Is it true that an arctic cold front could reach us next week?

We expect another cold front to reach us next Tuesday, and yes, it is looking more likely that Arctic air will eventually blow in behind it. If the arctic high pressure does move straight south down the Plains, our coldest weather would likely occur right around Valentine’s Day weekend. We are forecasting highs in the 40s Friday through Valentine’s Day with at least two mornings with below freezing temperatures. A hard freeze is possible but not in our forecast at this time. A hard freeze occurs when temperatures reach 24 degrees or colder for at least two hours, putting pipes in jeopardy of freezing up and even bursting. If you are a gardener, hold off on putting any plants into the ground, and if you’ve already planted cold sensitive plants, be prepared to protect them next week.

Does this mean we could get snow?

It is possible that moisture and cold air aloft could overlap at just the right time to bring wintry precipitation to Southeast Texas, but at this time the chance of that occurring is less than 20%. In other words, don’t get your hopes up just yet. Freezing rain, ice, and snow are all possible types of wintry precipitation we could experience, but again, the chances are low this many days out. If our confidence grows in the intensity of the cold air overlapping with moisture, these chances could go up, so stay tuned!