Groundhog week weather to challenge even the best prognosticators with threat of southern wintry mess

FOX Weather meteorologist Marissa Torres is monitoring the potential for ice subsequent week.

An unsettled weather sample throughout the Southern Plains and mid-South throughout the workweek has the potential to make journey dicey if all the elements align for precipitation to fall in the frozen selection as a sequence of disturbances transfer throughout the area.

Forecast fashions present on and off rain probabilities via Friday, and the place the droplets overlap with sufficient chilly air, frozen rain or even gentle snow will likely be potential.

The FOX Forecast Center mentioned the best probabilities of seeing an occasional combine are for communities north of Interstate 40 and the Texas Panhandle. The threat of ice contains metro areas comparable to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville.

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“The forecast confidence is going to continue to increase as we get closer to the event. But we’re fine-tuning this forecast as the models are not quite in agreement yet on exactly who is going to see what and when,” mentioned FOX Weather meteorologist Marissa Torres.

For many, ice accretions are anticipated to stay gentle via the occasion but when extra chilly air is current than forecast, impacts may rapidly ramp up.

Generally, ice accretions of lower than a ¼ of an inch are thought of to be a nuisance, however impacts start to become disruptive as soon as quantities shut in on half an inch or extra.

At round ½ of an inch, energy outages can grow to be quite a few, and driving is taken into account hazardous.

The National Weather Service considers the threat of freezing rain to be extra hazardous than snow as a result of rain can rapidly flip to ice alongside roadways and different surfaces when temperatures attain 32 levels or beneath.

Ice Impacts Explainer

(FOX Weather)

THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF ICE STORMS. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The dynamics don’t favor any sort of widespread extreme weather outbreak, however the place temperatures are heat and moisture is plentiful, flooding will likely be a priority alongside the Gulf Coast from Texas to Georgia.

Forecast fashions present as a lot as 5 inches of rain via Friday for a number of communities, which may set off flooding considerations if an excessive amount of falls faster than what streams can deal with.

“New Orleans – you’ll be getting into that wet weather as well. So, it’ll be one of those things where if people are heading to the Big Easy, they’ll need to prepare for the rain,” mentioned FOX Weather meteorologist Michael Estime.

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The potential for disruptive weather has some states making ready for the mess in the weeek to come.

ERCOT, Texas’ electrical energy grid supervisor, mentioned it’s monitoring the threat of frozen precipitation for the Lone Star State however believes it is going to have sufficient electrical era to meet the calls for of its greater than 26 million clients.

Forecast fashions present the threat of precipitation diminishing by the time the first weekend of February arrives.