Winter blast headed to the Valley

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Big change is expected to roll through the Rio Grande Valley later this weekend setting the stage for a potential winter event next week.

A cold front, the leading edge of Canadian air, will slip through the Valley on Saturday. The front will open the gate, allowing a flood of cold air to surge south across the Valley.

Temperatures will drop off 20 degrees by Sunday and continue a free-fall through the middle of next week. By Tuesday night the mercury will drop to freezing, or a bit below, and stay there through Wednesday morning providing conditions for a hard freeze.

The forecast is bringing moisture in behind the cold air and that will set the RGV up for cold, cloudy, and wet conditions Tuesday through Thursday.

Add in the many hours of freezing temperatures and there will be a risk for the drizzle to become freezing drizzle (frizzle), sleet, or even the potential for a few flurries of snow. The winter weather event is too far out to make a call on the chance for specific wintery precipitation with any certainty but it is a safe bet when the cold and the wet come together, the Valley could see one or all of those frozen treats.