JANUARY 2018 - Seasonal WX Week/Pacific Front Saturday

[srainhoutx]

32F now in NW Harris County. Concern growing as reports are coming in from Waller/Conroe/Huntsville and Cleveland of freezing rain/sleet and some occasional light snow mix falling. Please heed the advise to stay home today if possible. If the model trends we see developing continues, icing on our freeways/bridges/flyovers may well increase Region Wide as the day progresses.

freezing rain & getting really gusty in Cypress now

Just started here as well.

[srainhoutx]

Freezing rain/sleet mix and possibly some grapple accumulating on car tops and raised surfaces in NW Harris County.

[srainhoutx]

TXDOT reports icing beginning on 290 near FM 1098. HGX saying conditions/icing will likely spread further SE into the City over the next couple of hours.

[MontgomeryCoWx]

29 and sleet/snow/frz rain mix in Magnolia

[srainhoutx]

Mesoscale banding features continue via the 11Z HRRR

[unome]

Space City Weather has a blog update

https://spacecityweather.com/freezing-r ... -the-west/

you can follow some Twitter feeds also

https://twitter.com/JeffLindner1

https://twitter.com/houstontranstar

https://twitter.com/TxDOTHoustonPIO

[Andrew]

Getting ice pellets here in Oak Forest/ Garden Oaks

[srainhoutx]

6:30 AM Winter Weather Update from Jeff:

Conditions are deteriorating rapidly over the region.

Freezing line is nearing US 59 and continuing to move southward. Ice formation is being reported on US 290 in Waller County and FM 1097 over Lake Conroe. Road conditions have rapidly worsened in the Lake Somerville and College Station areas along HWY 21 with multiple reports of ice.

Waves of precipitation…freezing rain and sleet mixed will continue to move across the region for the next several hours as surface temperatures fall into the upper 20’s N of US 59 and to freezing all the way to the coast. Accumulations of ice will be increasing this morning especially on bridges and overpasses

[MontgomeryCoWx]

Walked outside. It’s sticking in Magnolia.

[srainhoutx]

290 @ FM 1960/HWY 6 N icing up now via Jeff.

[christinac2016]

Thought I'd report from Budde Rd. /The Woodlands/Oak Ridge. It's sleeting/freezing rain. Haven't looked at temp but I'm sure it's below freezing. Was able to drive to our fitness room but when I came out about an hour later, ice/sleet covered my windshield. Windy and hearing limbs hitting windows. I guess it's sleet falling outside. I'm in an upstairs apartment so I'm sure my stairs will freeze over any minute. Be careful weather warriors. It'll be interesting to see things when the sun comes up.

[srainhoutx]

Wintry mix including a few snow flurries continue in NW Harris County. Ice accumulating at ground level on grassy surfaces as well.

[snowman65]

radar looks pretty dry W of Houston. Unless I'm missing something I don't see how precip lasts until this afternoon.

[Andrew]

radar looks pretty dry W of Houston. Unless I'm missing something I don't see how precip lasts until this afternoon.

A lot of precip around Columbus and then further west over San Antonio.

[unome]

A lot of precip around Columbus and then further west over San Antonio.

yup - note this is a prototype, but I like it http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/exper/lsr/ ... autoreload

[srainhoutx]

radar looks pretty dry W of Houston. Unless I'm missing something I don't see how precip lasts until this afternoon.

The radar is very deceiving. A lot of the moisture is extremely light in nature and doesn't do it justice to ground truth. Region Wide Radar Imagery suggest the shortwave nearing San Antonio will continue to track generally E to NE toward Houston as the day wears on. Austin and San Antonio freeways are being closed due to heavy icing conditions and the radar only suggest little to light scattered activity.

[Andrew]

radar looks pretty dry W of Houston. Unless I'm missing something I don't see how precip lasts until this afternoon.

The radar is very deceiving. A lot of the moisture is extremely light in nature and doesn't do it justice to ground truth. Region Wide Radar Imagery suggest the shortwave nearing San Antonio will continue to track generally E to NE toward Houston as the day wears on. Austin and San Antonio freeways are being closed due to heavy icing conditions and the radar only suggest little to light scattered activity.

Yea that is the other thing we have to realize is usually with these type of events the radar is in clear air mode. That is not the case here so far because we have strong enough returns. I promise outside of the stronger returns precip still falls.

[don]

Getting rain mixed with graupel here in the Heights.

[srainhoutx]

Worrisome folks...please stay home if possible.

Mesoscale Discussion 0028
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
0709 AM CST Tue Jan 16 2018

Areas affected...south central into a portion of southeast Texas

Concerning...Freezing rain

Valid 161309Z - 161615Z

SUMMARY...Light freezing rain with rates up to .02 inches per hour
mixed with some sleet at times will likely persist next few hours
from south central into a portion of southeast Texas. The corridor
of freezing rain should slowly shift southeast with time.

DISCUSSION...Early this morning an arctic front has pushed into deep
south TX with temperatures falling into the upper 20s F farther
north across south-central TX. RUC sounding and VWP data indicate
this front is less than 1 km deep with a pronounced warm nose around
850 mb. A shallow convective layer is also evident between 850 and
700 mb. Frontogenetic forcing in the 900-700 mb layer with weak
isentropic ascent will continue to promote the development of patchy
showers this morning with freezing rain being the primary concern.
Some of the freezing rain may mix with sleet and change to snow
before ending from the west as the deeper cold air spreads southward
with time.

..Dial.. 01/16/2018

...Please see http://www.spc.noaa.gov for graphic product...

ATTN...WFO...HGX...CRP...EWX...

[Andrew]

Deck is freezing over here. Roads still look good but I am worried about the next batch of showers to the west. Radar shows snow/sleet mix.