The famous forecasting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania, saw his shadow on Monday, while Texas’ own forecasting favorite, the armadillo Bee Cave Bob, did not.
Though opinions differ on whether the United States will see a continuation of winter’s chill or an early arrival of spring, one thing is certain: Astronomical spring, determined by the tilt of the Earth toward the sun and marked by the vernal equinox, is about six weeks away, arriving on March 20.
Clouds will dominate Central Texas on Tuesday morning, along with areas of patchy to dense fog that could reduce visibility during the morning commute, especially west of Austin, where winds will be lighter. Morning temperatures will be mild, with lows in the 50s.
Clouds will linger much of the day as a cold front surges into the region. Temperatures ahead of the frontal boundary will warm into the lower 70s, which would be several degrees above the early-February average of 64 degrees.
The current forecast shows the frontal boundary moving through Austin in the afternoon, with gradual clearing of clouds behind it by 6 p.m.
A small chance of scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will emerge, but precipitation will be limited along the Interstate 35 corridor, with a higher chance of rainfall east of Austin.
“Depending on the speed and the strength of this next frontal boundary,” meteorologists at the regional National Weather Service office said on Monday. “High-resolution (forecast) models are starting to come into agreement, and it now looks like some areas, mainly along and east of the I-35 corridor could see showers and isolated thunderstorms as soon as Tuesday morning prior to this frontal passage.”
Enjoy this small rain chance because this will be our best shot of some rain this week.
This front was much weaker than the previous ones, so a significant drop in temperatures is not expected. As high atmospheric pressure builds overhead, skies will remain clear for the rest of the week, with daily temperature swings of more than 30 degrees from morning to afternoon.
“We could see a reinforcing, albeit brief, shot of colder air work its way down to South-Central Texas before the ridge out west slowly moves east on Friday,” the weather service wrote.
Temperatures will steadily climb into the 70s by Friday and could approach 80 degrees over the weekend.
While dry weather will be the norm this week and into the weekend, the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center is hinting about a pattern change by the middle of the month.