Frost/Freeze — Willacy Island, Texas

2024-01-17 · Willacy Island, Texas

Event narrative

Rincon del San Jose in Coastal Kenedy County recorded temperatures at or below freezing for 5.5 hours (between 330 AM and 9 AM on the 17th). A minimum temperature of 29F was recorded at 8 AM on the 17th. By proxy, and based on interpolation of temperatures from northeast coastal Cameron County, a shorter duration of freezing temperatures was likely, with minimum temperatures estimated to be around 30 or 31 degrees F on the barrier island.

Wider weather episode

An Arctic cold front ushered in the coldest air mass of the season to Deep South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley with widespread sub-freezing temperatures January 15-17. Subfreezing temperatures arrived during the morning of the 15th as the first surge of cold air arrived. Hard freezes impacted the northern ranchlands for 4 or more hours, with freezing temperatures (28 to 32 degrees) generally from 2 to 7 hours across many inland Valley locations.

The primary surge of arctic air arrived late on the 15th and continued through the late morning of the 16th, as strong high pressure moved into south Texas. Hard freezes occurred in all but locations along the coast. Duration of hard freezes generally lasted from 1 to 4 hours across the Valley, but 5 to 10 hours across the northern ranchlands. Subfreezing temperatures (32 or lower) lasted from 8 to 12 hours in the Valley, but 12 to more than 24 hours (continuing over from January 15) across the northern ranchlands.

Between the pre-dawn hours and mid morning of the 16th, the combination of cold temperatures and gusty northwest winds (15 to 25 mph and gusty) pushed wind chill (apparent) temperatures generally between 10 and 20 degrees across the region for several hours. Wind Chill Warning criteria, sufficient for the Extreme Cold/Wind Chill category, is 20 degrees or lower in Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr (including coastal/island locations), and 15 degrees or lower in Zapata, Jim Hogg, Brooks, and Kenedy County - located north of the region known as the Rio Grande Valley.

Mainly clear skies underneath the core of high pressure late on the 16th into the pre-dawn hours of the 17th allowed temperatures to fall into the 20s to lower 30s in most areas, with one exception being portions of the lower Valley where cloud cover arrived overnight kept temperatures nearly steady. Long-duration hard freezes, between 5 and 10 hours, occurred from the ranchlands to locations north of Interstate Highway 2, with freezing temperatures lasting between 8 and 15 hours for all but the immediate coast and in eastern Cameron County.

Minor damage occurred to crops, with dollar values to be determined as of this writing. Most built infrastructure saw no significant damage, according to reports from local Emergency Management officials. Isolated to scattered power outages were reported across the Rio Grande Valley, mainly on the 16th, but there were no reports of power grid damage due to the freeze.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1160914. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.