Severe thunderstorms possible Tuesday, arctic front possible next week

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — We are in for an eventful two weeks of weather here in southeast Texas as a powerful weather system pushes into the Plains. Severe thunderstorms will be possible Tuesday as a cold front approaches, and we’re giving you an early heads up that arctic air could arrive just ahead of Christmas weekend.

The Gulf wind will start to increase Tuesday morning as a strong area of low pressure blows into the Plains. This low pressure system will act like as a vacuum drawing deeper moisture into Texas from the Gulf. Streamer showers are possible during the morning, then as the temperature warms to near 80 thunderstorms will quickly develop. The twisting of winds in the atmosphere will be enough to cause some storms to rotate and possible produce severe wind gusts, hail, and tornadoes.

The prime window for severe thunderstorms will be from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the greatest threat will be northeast of Houston toward Lake Livingston.

The cold front will be slow to push through Houston Tuesday night, and rain will linger into Wednesday morning to potentially bring pockets of street flooding.

How cold will it get behind Tuesday cold front?

The cold front arriving Tuesday night will drop highs into the 50s and lows into the 30s by Friday and Saturday. It will mark a pattern change that could bring chilly weather all the way to Christmas Day. In fact, an arctic cold front is possible late next week.

An arctic cold front?! Will this be a repeat of the February 2021 winter storm? And could we have a white Christmas?

It’s too early to know exactly how we will be impacted by next week’s arctic cold front, but a hard freeze and wintry precipitation are certainly possible. Bitter cold air from Siberia is expected to come across the arctic circle into Canada and the United States early next week. There is a moderately strong signal that this cold air will plunge into Texas, but we still don’t know how cold it will get and whether or not any moisture will be available to generate wintry precip. We just want to give you an early heads up that things could turn severely cold by Christmas weekend with the arctic chill arriving in Houston as early as Thursday, December 22nd.