The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning and a hard freeze warning for Hays County ahead of Thursday's arctic cold front.
Both warnings go into effect Thursday at 6 p.m. The wind chill warning expires at noon on Friday, while the hard freeze warning stretches through Saturday at noon.
Dangerously cold wind chills are expected in the San Marcos area overnight Thursday into Friday morning. NWS is forecasting wind chills as low as seven degrees below zero.
Temperatures are expected to drop into the low to middle teens Thursday night. The high temperature Friday is forecast at or near 32 degrees. Temperatures fall into the high teens Friday night into Saturday before getting above freezing on Saturday afternoon.
A wind advisory will also go into effect beginning at noon on Thursday until 12 a.m. on Friday. NWS forecasts with winds beginning 10-15 mph during Thursday and then becoming north winds between 20-25 mph in the afternoon. Gusts could be as high as 30 mph.
National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Quigley said the Arctic cold front is expected to blow through San Marcos between 12-4 p.m. on Thursday.
“In the wake of that cold front will be very, very cold Canadian air that will begin filtering into the region quite rapidly,” NWS Meteorologist Andrew Quigley told the Daily Record on Tuesday. “We’ll probably see 20-25-degree temperature drops behind that front relative to what we warm up to Thursday afternoon when it gets here. Combined with that very cold air, we’re going to have very breezy, even windy conditions across the entire area from Thursday night through early Friday morning. That combination of very cold Canadian air combined with the gusty winds is going to lead to downright frigid air temperatures but also wind chills from late Thursday night into Friday morning.”
NWS asks drivers to use extra caution when driving. Ahead of the freezing weather, NWS recommends bringing pets indoors, staying indoors if possible and letting faucets drip to prevent frozen pipes.
