Another Arctic Front Hits Central Texas Ahead Of Weekend, With Freezing Temps

AUSTIN, TX — Batten down the hatches, people of the metropolitan Austin area. Or at least prepare your homes for another cold front.

We're talking freezing temperatures beginning as early as Thursday night, with temperatures forecast to dip into the low 20s by the weekend. Yes, it's another Arctic cold front like the one that arrived two weeks before Christmas that took many by surprise given the unseasonably warm weather preceding it and the balmy high 70s temps that arrived on the date of Christ's birth.

This time, it might be worse. The Weather Channel breaks it down.

By Thursday night, forecasters are predicting a low of 31 degrees. That cold will continue into Friday, when 38 degrees is forecast as the high, with 24 degrees as the nadir. Saturday won't fare much warmer, with a high of 44 degrees and a low of 25 degrees forecast.

By Sunday, things will warm up considerably with a high of 51 degrees forecast and a low that night of 37 degrees. But still, that's cold.

The mercurial nature of Texas weather will be evident by next Monday, when temperatures take a big shift upward, a high of 67 degrees and a low of 55 degrees being predicted.

By the remainder of next week, it should get back to normal—the term being relative given the anomaly that is Texas as it relates to most of the country where cold weather usually accompanies wintertime—with high temperatures just shy of 80 degrees and the lows at comparatively balmy mid-60s.

Recap: The genuinely cold temps will be on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. What that means is you need to protect the three Ps—plants, pets and pipes (bring in, bring in and wrap). You know the drill, so get to it. If you need a primer, click here for handy tips on the three Ps from Williamson County officials.

Some add a fourth P to the reckoning: People. And, yes, but this goes without saying (or it should, anyway). In times of cold spells, it's important to bundle up and outfit the kids accordingly. Those more vulnerable to cold weather (elderly family members or neighbors, for example) should be checked on too, or at the very least alerted to the upcoming cold front and reminder to dress warm and get out the thick comforter when going to bed.

"Check on elderly family, friends, and neighbors and those who may have functional or access needs to make sure that they have sufficient warmth to get them through the cold weather," Williamson County officials write as it relates to the P of people.

People, people who have people to remind them of the fourth P that means people are the luckiest people in the world. So do spread the word about the imminent cold.

>>> Photo credit: Brocken Inaglory via WikiMedia Commons, and, no it's not going to get quite as cold in Central Texas as the picture suggests; we just really like penguins.