ARCTIC BLAST NEXT WEEK!!!

I know what you are all thinking, where's winter? What's with our long stretch of spring-like weather? When is it coming to an end? Over the next week we will continue to deal with above normal temperatures in the 70s to near 80°F. In fact, we topped out at 80°F this afternoon at Camp Mabry and 81°F at the airport. The average high for this time of year in Austin is 65°F, so you can clearly see we were some 15°F above average this afternoon. In fact, our low this morning is more in line with where afternoon highs should be! Crazy!

Here's a look at 4 PM temperatures across the state of Texas: Check out all of those reds and oranges indicating temperatures in the 70s and 80s

Well, I have got some great news for all of you cold weather lovers (including myself)...computer models have been consistently predicting a strong Arctic Front to blow into the state of Texas next Monday. In fact, the source of this cold air is across northwest Canada and Alaska where temps are nearing 50 DEGREES BELOW ZERO...of course that air will be greatly modified by the time it reaches our neck of the woods, however, we are still talking about the possibility of highs in the 40s and 50s for a good chunk of next week with overnight lows in the 20s and 30s. In fact, it looks like Austin will get its first official freeze of the season next week.

IMAGE BELOW: ECMWF (European Forecast Model) puts temps into the 80s to near 90 across south Texas for next Monday with temps only in the 30s across the Panhandle! Gotta love Texas!

The image above shows temps plunging into the lower 30s across all of Central Texas with temps in the 10s and 20s across north Texas and the Texas Panhandle.

Will there be any rainfall with the front, the answer is maybe. Would there be a lot of rainfall with the front? Unfortunately, no. The front will be moving so quickly that any rainfall that manages to come through the area would be moving so quickly that it would not be able to amount to much. Models show some rainfall with the front and are actually predicting snow for the Texas Panhandle, northwest Texas, and Oklahoma for next Monday night/Tuesday. WOW! What a change from temps in the 70s and 80s. The front will really crank up the winds for next week with winds gusting as high as 40 mph with the arrival of the front.

Of course, this is a week away, therefore, things are likely to change, however, it is beginning to look like we are in for a pretty good cold snap next week which will drop highs and lows well BELOW AVERAGE for this time of year.