Texas Winter 2018-2019

[Tammie]

Radar is showing some sort of wintry precipitation in south Texas and outside Lufkin...any word on if that’s really producing or...?

I’ve seen several pics on Twitter. It’s producing very light sleet/graupel! Melting on the ground, but picnic tables are elevated enough for people to get a quick pic of a few pellets!

[srainhoutx]

Sleet reported in South Austin

[rwfromkansas]

Radar lighting up south of DFW but not really going north. We will get jack.

[wxman57]

I think it's likely that the reports of "sleet" are actually graupel - partially melted snowflakes, also called snow pellets. Graupel is round like sleet, but it is much less dense. Looks like little styrofoam beads. HRRR soundings across the southern Hill Country indicate that the precip (snow) is forming in a sub-freezing layer between 5000 and 10000 ft. There's a warm layer below that, which would allow the falling snowflakes would melt at least partially. Sleet forms when the air aloft is above freezing and the falling rain passes through a sub-freezing layer, either at the surface or just above the surface. That's the opposite of what the soundings indicate.

Up in the D-FW area, I think you got TOO much cold air overnight, which has really dried out the airmass aloft. Better shot at seeing some snow pellets, possibly some snowflakes farther south like between Austin & Waco.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel

[srainhoutx]

Brief snow flakes reported near Lake Bryan (Brazos County)

[Cerlin]

So now DFW is too cold?? What do we have to do to just get something???

[Tejas89]

KXAS and NWS both have a decent chance for sleet for DFW tonight.

[wxman57]

This HRRR sounding from West (just north of Waco) valid at 5pm today indicates snow forming (red and green lines close together) in the sub-freezing layer (left of the dashed 0C line) between about 850mb (5000 ft) and 500mb (18,000 ft. Below that, the red temperature line is just barely right of the dashed freezing line. Surface temperature 38 deg, but it falls to 35 in subsequent hours as the precip falls. Could be some accumulations of snow there.

Up in the D-FW area, HRRR indicates a thin layer of mid-level clouds late this afternoon and this evening. Not enough moisture for precip. Too much cold, dry air at the surface and aloft.

[srainhoutx]

Light graupel reported in Del Rio

[Yukon Cornelius]

Coldest temp of the season this morning. Made it down to 17 with a windchill of 7.

[wxman57]

KXAS and NWS both have a decent chance for sleet for DFW tonight.

Looking beyond this afternoon (dry air over D-FW), the HRRR sounding for DFW indicates increasing moisture by late this evening. Sounding below is valid at midnight. Predip is forming in a layer that is below freezing at the top and above freezing at the bottom. There is a warm nose but then a sub-freezing layer that is around 1000-1500 ft above the ground. It's a complex setup that could yield either graupel (snow pellets) or sleet. I suppose you couldn't rule out a snowflake there. Best time is late this evening and early Saturday morning.

[srainhoutx]

Sleet/graupel mix reported in Kerrville

[weatherdude1108]

When I left my house this morning to go to work just before 7am, I saw a few snowflakes in front of the headlights. On the 45 tollway access road, I saw some flakes. On Parmer, | heard sleet pellets occasionally hitting the window. I didn't see the sleet, but definitely heard it hitting windshield! Sounded like large sand grains hitting windshield, but no sand or gravel trucks in the area.

Radar showing snow falling over Austin, near work. We'll see if I get any ground-truth observations.

[srainhoutx]

Sleet reported in Boerne

[srainhoutx]

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
755 AM CST FRI FEB 8 2019

LLANO-BURNET-WILLIAMSON-VAL VERDE-EDWARDS-REAL-KERR-BANDERA-
GILLESPIE-KENDALL-BLANCO-HAYS-TRAVIS-COMAL-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF LLANO, BURNET, GEORGETOWN, DEL RIO,
ROCKSPRINGS, LEAKEY, KERRVILLE, BANDERA, FREDERICKSBURG, BOERNE,
BLANCO, SAN MARCOS, AUSTIN, AND NEW BRAUNFELS
755 AM CST FRI FEB 8 2019

...WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION THIS MORNING...

AREAS OF A RAIN, SLEET, AND SNOW GRAUPEL MIX CONTINUE ACROSS THE
AREA THIS MORNING. WHILE CURRENT TEMPERATURES ARE NEAR OR BELOW
FREEZING, PRECIPITATION INTENSITY SHOULD LIMIT ACCUMULATIONS.
HOWEVER, THERE COULD BE ISOLATED SLICK SPOTS ON AREA BRIDGES AND
OVERPASSES UNDER ANY HEAVIER BURSTS OF PRECIPITATION THIS MORNING.
TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO WARM ABOVE FREEZING BY THE LATE
MORNING HOURS.

[Shoshana]

Friends in South Austin and East Austin reporting what they say is sleet. I heard something hitting the house windows but when I went out didn’t see or feel anything. I live east and work west now so I’ll keep my eyes peeled. But I while I have windows, unless there’s a lot, I might not see anything

[orangeblood]

KXAS and NWS both have a decent chance for sleet for DFW tonight.

Looking beyond this afternoon (dry air over D-FW), the HRRR sounding for DFW indicates increasing moisture by late this evening. Sounding below is valid at midnight. Predip is forming in a layer that is below freezing at the top and above freezing at the bottom. There is a warm nose but then a sub-freezing layer that is around 1000-1500 ft above the ground. It's a complex setup that could yield either graupel (snow pellets) or sleet. I suppose you couldn't rule out a snowflake there. Best time is late this evening and early Saturday morning.

http://wxman57.com/images/dfw.png

Yep - With DFW currently at 23 F with a dew point of 11 F, that is a substantial amount of dry air to overcome! Doesn't mean it can't happen but overall, this airmass came in stronger than forecast

[hriverajr]

Just had a decent graupel shower in Del Rio

[srainhoutx]

Small hail reported in Del Rio. There is a convective nature with the shortwave approaching.

[Cerlin]

So when the temp raises at DFW, that should better our setup for snow with hypothetical precipitation?