A strong cold front sweeping the U.S. is barreling straight toward Texas this weekend. This means temperatures are going to drop drastically, bringing a reprieve from 90-degree days so early in spring. But it also means stormy days are on the horizon for the southern half of the Lone Star State.
This strong burst of arctic air hit the Texas Panhandle Friday, April 17. But it should creep further into the state by Saturday, bringing significant temperature dips and storm clouds from Dallas down to Corpus Christi.
“Wind relaxes late tonight as a cold front approaches our area from the northwest, which should be right on our doorstep sometime around sunrise to mid-morning on Saturday,” the National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio office reports. “The front moves across all of south Central Texas during the daytime, making temperatures tricky with cloud cover and rain chances forecast behind the front…”
Dallas was the first to see storms as shower odds peaked Friday night. But a gloomy Saturday is still expected, with thunderstorm odds over the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro area hovering in the 50% to 60% range. Though, Sunday should be a mild and sunny day without storm clouds lingering, and the afternoon high should stay in the low-70s.
San Antonio has a less promising weekend in its future. In fact, it’s looking like doom and gloom for most of South Central Texas, including the Texas Hill Country and Austin. Rain chances begin to climb Saturday, hitting 60% by the evening, and linger until Tuesday. While it’s shaping up to be an “unimpressive” rain event in South Central Texas, per federal forecasters, there does remain some chance of small hail or thunderstorms.
“Rain is mainly expected behind the frontal passage due to overrunning but with good, elevated instability in place, we could still see some thunderstorm activity which could produce small hail,” the NWS office warns.
While these fronts tend to stall out before reaching the southern tip of Texas, this cold burst is strong enough to have a decent impact on South Texas. Between Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Corpus Christi is slated to see a 10-degree dip in highs. A cloud-covered and rainy Sunday with highs in the low 70s is forecast for the coastal town, and storm chances linger even as temperatures begin to climb later into next week.