Austin / Travis County and South Central Texas Weather Update #8
Prepared by UT University/Incident Meteorologist Troy Kimmel
610am CT – Tuesday / 24 February 2015
… Sub Freezing Temperatures Area Wide over IH35 Corridor Counties ….
… Light Freezing Drizzle Being Reported at Austin Bergstrom International Airport ….
… There’s Still a 20% Chance of Freezing Drizzle into Mid Morning ….
NWS WATCHES / ADVISORIES / WARNINGS for IH35 Corridor Counties:
None
OBSERVATIONS AND MY LATEST THOUGHTS:
At 600am… temperatures are well below freezing area wide this morning.. Austin City
(Camp Mabry) at 30F.. Austin Bergstrom Intl Airport at 30F.. Austin Great Hills NWS
COOP Station at 27.7F.. Jollyville (LCRA Hydromet) at 28F.. Austin Executive Airport (along
the toll road just southeast of Pflugerville) at 28F.. Georgetown at 28F.. Lago Vista at 28F.
The LCRA Hydromet indicates temperatures in our three county area are in the range of
25F to 32F.
NWS Doppler weather radar doesn’t depict any precipitation around the area although there
are a few areas of freezing drizzle reported. These drizzle droplets are too small and relatively
too close to the ground to be easily depicted well on weather radar. KAUS/Austin Bergstrom
International Airport weather observers have been reporting very light freezing drizzle since
about 417am.. no other weather observations are reporting any precipitation. Law enforcement
and first responder agencies have reported dry conditions in the last few hours. There was one
report of some ice on the bridge at MoPac and Parmer in north Austin, but TXDOT responded
quickly and took care of the situation.
So… bottom line… in the 6am hour… it appears we’re in generally good shape.
I would still advise caution on outside stair wells and on other elevated objects through mid
morning just in case there are some isolated patches of light icing.
Temperatures will rise above freezing by about 9am to 10am this morning.. isolated patches
of drizzle may occur through the day but it should be very light.
The final big chunk of the upper air low pressure system will traverse the area tonight into
Wednesday morning with increased precipitation chances and temperatures cooling to 34F
to 35F tonight and highs in the 50s Wednesday afternoon. No problems are anticipated since
temperatures are forecast to stay above freezing but I will continue to monitor this very
closely. Coincidently, this system is forecast to be a sleet and snow producer in north
Texas with very light snow/sleet accumulations expected as far south as Fort Hood..
Temple.. Killeen.. and Belton as well in Milam County in Cameron and even Rockdale.
Heavier snow total accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are possible further north and east where
the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex has been placed under a WINTER STORM WATCH for
tonight into early tomorrow Wednesday. ABIA interests should note this possibility since more
winter weather in that area will affect operations at the DFW/DAL aerodromes and result in
additional cancellations/delays and diversions tonight into early Wednesday.
Updates/reports forwarded as necessary..
tk