Arctic Air Invasion!

Let's start with a look at current temperatures across the lower 48 right now! Arctic Air continues to pour into the United States on brisk northerly winds...we can thank a big dip in the jet stream for the cold blast. Los Angeles, CA saw their coldest temperature in 22 years this morning when the mercury dropped to 34ºF. 

A strong ridge of high pressure off of the west coast of the United States is pulling the cold air out of Canada into the western and central United States. With this pattern locked in place over the next several days, we will continue to see cold air pour into Texas on gusty northerly breezes. As the upper level low approaches the area from the west over the coming days, our skies here in central Texas will cloud up. Thanks to some sunshine today, our temperature was able to climb to 51ºF here in Austin. With more clouds for tomorrow and Wednesday, I'm only expecting highs to make it into the middle 40s with with wind chills in the 30s thanks to breezy northerly winds. As that disturbance approaches from the west, there is a SLIGHT chance for a few sleet showers or possibly a couple of snow flurries across central Texas Tuesday night into early Wednesday. No accumulation is expected.

Southwesterly winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere are allowing for Pacific moisture to stream across Mexico and into the state of Texas. That's what was giving us the cloudy periods during the day today and right now. Latest satellite imagery shows all of central and south Texas blanketed by a layer of mid to high level clouds. Those clouds made for a beautiful sunset this evening. 

(Image Above) This is a look at the current upper level wind pattern and temperature map at 18,000 feet aloft. Big dip in the jet stream is clearly visible across the western and central U.S. The jet stream is dipping all the way south into northern Mexico. This system will continue to slowly push east over the coming days. We will start warming things up by Thursday with highs returning into the 50s; 60s possible for the weekend before another cold front ushers in some more chilly air for the beginning of next week. Over the weekend, long range forecast models were indicating the possibility of a powerful Arctic Blast for much of the central and eastern U.S. for next week. Latest models indicate the coldest air should stay east of Texas. I'm watching each model run closely. If that air mass breaks loose and heads our way, highs will drop into the 30s with overnight lows in the 10s and low 20s for Central Texas. *AS OF RIGHT NOW, MODELS HAVE BACKED OFF ON THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS HAPPENING, HOWEVER, IT STILL BEARS WATCHING*