Coldest Night Since February 12th...

Bleak, gray, windy, cold. Any of those words plus more can describe how today felt outside. This was one of the coldest days we have seen since last winter, and tonight will be the coldest since February 12th. In fact, the high of 38 degrees reported from Easterwood Airport was a record. For this date, 38 degrees is now the new record low, maximum temperature. The old record was 40 degrees, back in 1972.

A powerful cold front came through this past weekend and shuttled in the extreme cold for this time of the year. However, its not just The Lone Star State experiencing this winter chill. Most everyone across the country need to use their heaters to warm up. The only exception are the folks along the east coast. Plus, this deep pocket of cold air will stick around for quite a while, including tonight.

One of the reasons for the frigid afternoon was due to the lack of sunshine. However, the clouds will begin to break as an upper level low move out and surface high pressure moves in. This will do a few things for us. One, brighten up the sky and rebound afternoon highs into the 50s. Also, allow any "heat" from this afternoon to escape into the atmosphere overnight. Therefore, temperatures will fall though the 30s and down into the 20s.

The following image is my forecast for low temperatures for tonight and into Wednesday morning:

If these temperatures are met, this will be the coldest start we have had to a day since February 12th, where the thermometer dropped to 28 degrees. Since we have already hit 32 degrees multiple times this season, the National Weather Service will not issue any Freeze Warnings for us.

Make sure to take care of some of the essentials tonight. Keep the pets inside as well as tender vegetation, and begin to wrap up the pipes. Not only will it be quite cold tonight, expect temperatures to fall below freezing again Wednesday night.