A cold front brought freezing temperatures to South Central Texas. Overrunning conditions generated light precipitation into the cold air.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.
A cold front brought freezing temperatures to South Central Texas. Overrunning conditions generated light precipitation into the cold air. Most of the precipitation fell as sleet with a few spots seeing snow. Minor impacts were reported.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 23, 5:33 AM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 533 AM CST Wed Feb 23 2022 .AVIATION... (23/12Z TAFs) MVFR CIGs prevail at the TAF sites today through tonight with areas of -RADZ/-FZRA/-FZDZ developing. The potential for -FZRA/-FZDZ is best north of a KECU-K5C1-KBAZ-KGYB line later today into tonight and includes KAUS when surface temperatures fall to or below freezing. The precipitation may cause CIGs at the I-35 sites to lower to IFR tonight. Northerly winds of 10 to 20 KTs with a few gusts to 30KTs will gradually become more stable at 10 to 15 KTs tonight. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 223 AM CST Wed Feb 23 2022/ SHORT TERM (Today through Thursday)... The cold front has moved across all of South Central Texas with cold advection underway and temperatures gradually falling today through early Thursday. By the end of today, temperatures in some spots will be more than 50F colder than yesterday. The cold airmass is very shallow and is forecast to remain less than 1K feet with a warm and moist south to southwesterly flow above. 850 MB temperatures of 10C to 15C are noted in forecast soundings through Thursday. An upper level trough will pass well to our north over the Central Rockies into the Central Plains with some upper level jet energy overhead. Isentropic lifting over the frontal surface will generate widely scattered to scattered precipitation most areas today and tonight, then eastern areas on Thursday. Light rain or drizzle is expected to be the main liquid type as the moist layer is forecast to not be very deep, extending only to around 780 MB. However, cannot rule out a few showers or even a few lightning strikes should deeper convection develop. In areas where temperatures drop to or below freezing, a mix with or changeover to freezing rain/freezing drizzle is expected. The favored areas for this to occur are over the Edwards Plateau, Hill Country, along the I-35 corridor north of San Antonio or generally along and north of a Rocksprings to Boerne to New Braunfels to Lexington line. Precipitation amounts are forecast to be light. Due to warm air temperatures earlier this week, ground temperatures are currently in the 50s to 60s and will likely remain well above freezing through Thursday. Also, latent heat release processes may warm surface air temperatures back above freezing. As a result, little or no ice accumulation is currently expected. However, cannot rule out very light ice accumulations on exposed surface such as trees. It is possible that a Winter Weather Advisory may have to be issued in later forecasts should precipitation amounts increase or ground temperatures cool faster than expected. Monitor later forecasts for any updates on this potential winter weather event. While diurnal temperature ranges will be rather small with well below normal temperatures expected, isentropic lifting will end across the Rio Grande Plains on Thursday allowing for some decrease in clouds and warmer high temperatures there. There is some uncertainty regarding temperatures as a few models show an erosion of the shallow cold airmass with much warmer temperatures across all areas on Thursday. LONG TERM (Thursday Night through Tuesday)... There are a pair of forecast questions to begin the long term period, all of which will impact whether or not there is precipitation Thursday night into Friday, and whether that will be all liquid or a second round of wintry mix potentially. The first question is will there be precipitation around Thursday night into Friday morning? Synoptically a short wave will be moving across the Central Plains. It will be far enough to the north to keep any significant dynamics well north of South Central Texas, but southwest flow aloft will prevail. Because of this the primary source of lift in the long term will be isentropic. Examining some of the isentropic fields in the GFS, drier air filters in for Thursday night into Friday weakening the overall isentropic lift. This drier air potential is supported in many of the other synoptic models (Canadian and NAM) in several of their outputs including lack of QPF and drier mid-level air evident in the model soundings. The drier air is ushered in by a secondary boundary or push of cold high pressure across the area. The two outliers to this with the 00z package are the 00z ECMWF which keeps light QPF over the area Thursday night into Friday, and the National Blend of Models. While the ECMWF follows the same mid-level drying and hints at a boundary pushing south late Thursday, it maintains a more moist surface layer and keeps precipitation in place. The NBM tends to be a slower reacting output, although it is worth noting that it did come down on PoPs for the overnight period, but has yet to axe them completely. So the answer to this first forecast is maybe - but things look like they are trending drier. For now, to avoid big forecast swings, have left NBM slight chance to chance PoPs in place. The second question is what will overnight temperatures be, or to put another way will some spots get to freezing. This continues to be a battle between the much warmer GFS and the much colder NAM. Just looking at the raw NAM MET and GFS MAV output the GFS keeps the Austin Metro area, and even parts of the Hill Country in the 33 to 36 degree range for Thursday night into Friday, while the NAM tanks temperatures into the upper 20s. Pick your poison here. The NAM typically does better with colder temperatures and with the possible secondary push, colder does appear more reasonable, but the cold layer evident in the soundings is so shallow there is at least a slight possibility of it modifying and warming some. For now have gone with freezing temperatures across parts of the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country, but not the I-35 corridor. Based on that analysis for now have left in PoPs for Thursday night into Friday, with some of that being a mix of freezing rain and rain across parts of the Edwards Plateau, Hill Country, and Williamson County. While amounts should be light, and any impacts should primarily be on exposed surface and elevated road ways, if more models trend towards the NAM and trend back wetter, there could be a few more impacts from the round Thursday night into Friday. Ground temperatures (thanks to the two days in the 80s to start the week) are in the 60s and 70s based on the TWDB Texas Mesonet. This will make it very difficult, if not impossible for any accumulations to stick on sidewalks and roadways. For Friday onward a slow warming trend begins in the temperatures. With isentropic lift increasing during the day on Friday and then again on Saturday more scattered to widespread rain is expected on Friday and Saturday. Amounts will continue to be light, with generally only a few hundredths to around a tenth of an inch expected. One or two areas could pick up as much as 1/4 inch of rainfall. Temperatures Friday night into Saturday look to remain above freezing for most areas, other than a few isolated spots across the Hill Country so liquid rain will be the primary precipitation type for Friday onwards. Isentropic lift lingers into Saturday night before a large surface high moves in from the north and parks itself over South Central Texas for Sunday afternoon and Monday. Generally dry conditions are expected to end the long term on Tuesday with high pressure over the area. Some models do show a boundary with a few showers, which the NBM picks up on, but confidence is low at this time. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Austin Camp Mabry 40 32 46 33 44 / 40 50 70 30 30 Austin Bergstrom Intl Airport 40 32 47 33 44 / 40 50 60 30 30 New Braunfels Muni Airport 44 33 51 35 46 / 40 50 50 40 30 Burnet Muni Airport 36 29 44 29 42 / 20 50 60 20 20 Del Rio Intl Airport 57 39 67 43 57 / 20 30 - 20 20 Georgetown Muni Airport 36 30 44 30 43 / 30 50 70 30 20 Hondo Muni Airport 51 36 58 37 51 / 20 50 30 40 40 San Marcos Muni Airport 42 32 49 34 45 / 40 50 60 40 30 La Grange - Fayette Regional 48 35 50 36 46 / 40 40 50 40 30 San Antonio Intl Airport 47 34 53 37 47 / 40 50 30 40 40 Stinson Muni Airport 51 35 57 39 50 / 30 50 30 40 40 && .EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && Short-Term/Aviation...04 Long-Term...05
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 454 AM CST Wed Feb 23 2022 TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-241100- Llano-Burnet-Williamson-Val Verde-Edwards-Real-Kerr-Bandera- Gillespie-Kendall-Blanco-Hays-Travis-Bastrop-Lee-Kinney-Uvalde- Medina-Bexar-Comal-Guadalupe-Caldwell-Fayette-Maverick-Zavala- Frio-Atascosa-Wilson-Karnes-Gonzales-De Witt-Lavaca-Dimmit- 454 AM CST Wed Feb 23 2022 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for South-Central Texas.. .DAY ONE...Today And Tonight. A mix of rain, freezing rain, and freezing drizzle is possible along and north of a Rocksprings to Boerne to New Braunfels to Lexington line later today into tonight. With warm antecedent pavement and soil temperatures, no impacts are anticipated with this potential activity. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. A mix of rain, freezing rain, and freezing drizzle is possible along and north of a Rocksprings to Boerne to New Braunfels to Lexington mainly nighttime into morning hours Thursday through Friday morning. At this time, the primary hazard would be the potential for some light icing on elevated roadways and bridges. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A CoCoRaHS observer in Johnson City reported light drizzle freezing on contact with exposed metal objects.
Freezing rain caused icy patches on bridges and overpasses around the county. There were a few accidents including one on the flyover connector from eastbound Hwy 71 to northbound Hwy 130. Light snow was also reported for a short time in eastern Austin.
Freezing drizzle and light freezing rain left a glaze of ice on elevated surfaces in New Braunfels.
Freezing rain caused icy patches on bridges and overpasses across the county. No accidents were reported.
There was light snow in Fredericksburg. There was no accumulation or impacts.
Marble Falls had a dusting of light snow which was followed by freezing drizzle. The freezing drizzle left a light glaze of ice on exposed surfaces.
Light freezing drizzle left a glaze of ice on elevated surfaces in Schertz.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, February 2022
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1009326, 1009335, 1009332, 1009336, 1009333, 1009329, 1009334.