HARLINGEN — A series of Arctic blasts that have communities in the north measuring snowfall in feet is about to put its boots on the ground here in the Rio Grande Valley.
By this weekend, forecasters say, temperatures will likely fall into the 30s, and although its early for the forecast models to be very precise, it may bring sleet and freezing rain.
“It’s definitely going to be colder temperatures. The question is, how cold is it going to get?” Mike Castillo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, said Sunday.
“We’ve been looking at it the past couple days, and the Arctic air mass that’s supposed to be coming down, it looks like in the middle of the week,” he added. “We’re still talking about a few days out so timing is going to change, but we’re looking at late Thursday where the front will be moving into the Rio Grande Valley. Right now, I would guess late Thursday afternoon or Thursday evening.”
Highs will be between 80 and 90 from Monday through Wednesday, and then things will start to cool in a big way.
“Thursday night we’re looking at temperatures in the mid- to upper 40s across the Valley, and then Friday we’re seeing highs in the upper 50s to near 60 … the coldest will be a tossup between Friday night and Saturday night, but we are looking at temperatures Friday night in the lower to mid-40s and Saturday night in the upper 30s to near 40,” Castillo said.
Castillo concedes the temperatures the weather service is forecasting now could be a bit different later in the week as the models firm up.
A light drizzle will accompany the front, and if the temperatures decide to drop into the low 30s, it could create some problems.
“The question is how cold will it get and whether rain will stay liquid or the potential of having some mixed, frozen precipitation, depending on the temperatures,” Castillo said.
Another complicating factor, at least for the forecasters in Brownsville, is they will be without their radar for the start of the front coming through the Valley. It will be down for scheduled maintenance Wednesday and Thursday, and the radar in Corpus Christi will have to take up the slack.
“The timing’s bad on this one,” he said. “But it’s got to be done.”
