Could North Texas see yet another winter storm with ice and snow next week? Maybe
Is North Texas in for another round of Snowpocalypse next week?
It’s possible, but National Weather Service Fort Worth Meteorologist Monique Sellers says that’s all it is right now: one possibility. Weather is never 100% predictable, as every Texan knows, and the forecast into next week can’t be certain about much.
“You’re gonna see that forecast change pretty substantially every time it’s updated, so the biggest thing is just to keep an eye on those forecast updates,” Sellers told the Star-Telegram.
North Texas was under a winter weather warning Feb. 2 into Feb. 3, with rain, sleet, snow and ice inundating the region and leading to a shutdown of city services, businesses and roads. A return of those conditions is not likely right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible as the forecast changes and updates, Sellers said.
Cold temperatures returned to North Texas on Thursday, with overnight lows in Fort Worth and Dallas expected to be in the upper 20s. But the National Weather Service currently forecasts temperatures jumping back up into the 50s Friday, 60s Saturday and 70s on Sunday.
There is some potential for rain on Monday and a strong chance for another shot of cold air sometime next week, along with what appears to be more precipitation. Temperatures could drop drastically again by Wednesday.
How that cold air and precipitation will interact, and when, is up in the air right now, Sellers said. It could lead to sleet or snow, or it could just be rain.
And, while Sellers reiterated that forecasting into next week (especially seven or eight days out) involves a lot of (very) highly educated guesswork that takes trends and weather conditions elsewhere into account, the more likely scenario is just cold rain.
“The signal we’re getting is just cooler air, not quite that real, real cold shot of air yet,” Sellers said. “That doesn’t mean that won’t change. ... Just don’t totally trust anything with certainty, especially if they say ‘we’re going to get this many inches of snow.’ “