Frost/Freeze — Starr, Texas

2025-01-21 to 2025-01-22 · Starr, Texas

Event narrative

La Puerta recorded freezing temperatures (32F degrees or lower) for a total of 22 hours (9 hours on January 21 from 2:11am to 11:11am and then again for another 13 hours from 7:11pm on January 21 to 8:11am on January 22). A minimum temperature of 19F degrees occurred at 7:11am on January 22. Rancho Los Comitos recorded freezing temperatures (32F degrees or lower) for a total of 39 hours (25 hours from 11:30pm January 20 to 12:20pm January 21, and 14 hours from 6:45pm January 21 to 8:45am January 22). A minimum temperature of 20F degrees occurred between 5:25am and 5:55am on January 22.

Wider weather episode

An Arctic Express with air that originated in Siberia and moved near the North Pole before surging south through northwest Canada and deep into the United States and northern Mexico January 20-22, 2025 resulted in widespread, in some cases record setting, cold temperatures across the Rio Grande Valley and Deep South Texas. This Arctic Cold Snap resulted in widespread sea turtle cold stunnings along the Lower Texas coast. Furthermore, light precipitation resulted in light accumulations of ice for all but the lower Valley (eastern Cameron and Willacy) during this time period.

Along the coast, a second sea turtle cold-stun event occurred in lower Laguna Madre Bay, with around 375 turtles affected - the most since the January 15-17, 2024, event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1231465. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.