The Deep Freeze Will Slam East Texas on Thursday Afternoon

A Look Back

A couple of winters ago, Deep East Texas experienced one of its coldest snaps in history. Temperatures plummeted into the single digits, snow was plentiful around the region, and an ice storm took out power to many locations for several days.

The Bad News

A polar plunge is expected to bring those types of temperatures back to East Texas just a few days ahead of Christmas. We are talking about low temperatures around 10 degrees in some areas, and with a blustery north wind, we can expect wind chill readings to dip BELOW ZERO!

Temperatures will rebound a little by Christmas Day, but we will still be well below normal with highs expected to reach around 45 on December 25th.

The Good News

I've always wanted to see a White Christmas with a fresh blanket of new snow over the landscape. However, the ice storm of 2021 is still fresh in my memory, as is the 70+ hours of frigid existence in a house with no electricity.

So, I consider it good news that forecasters are not anticipating any precipitation in Deep East Texas to go along with this polar blast. Well, last I checked, the National Weather Service says that there is a 5-10% chance of precipitation on Thursday evening (when we get below freezing), so maybe a few flakes aren't out of the question.

The Timing of the Sudden Change

When the cold front hits East Texas, the impact will be immediate.

Right now, meteorologists expect us to reach a high of 55 degrees before the front hits the Pineywoods during the early afternoon hours on Thursday, December 22.  By the time the sun sets later that afternoon, we will be below freezing already.

The winds will be gusting well above 20 mph through Friday giving us wind chill readings below zero Thursday night and only into the single digits for most of the day Friday.

Be Prepared

You should start mapping out any actions that you should take for this extremely cold weather event. Protecting your pipes and plants, bringing your pets indoors, and making sure your vehicle is coolant ready are just some of the things to line up.

If you have a generator, you should probably make sure it's good to go. Power grid officials in Texas do not anticipate any issues like the ones they had in February 2021, but it's good to be prepared.

Will this Cold Snap Break Records in East Texas?

No. It will be one of our coldest periods in history from December 22-25, but not quite the coldest.

We could get down to the single digits on the morning of December 23, but we shouldn't hit 2 degrees which was the record low temp in 1989. The record low for Christmas Eve is 5 degrees (1929), and the record low temperature for Christmas Day in Lufkin is 8 degrees set in 1983.

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