Cold/Wind Chill in Coastal Willacy, Texas

Harlingen ASOS recorded 33 hours of wind chills at or below 30F degrees from 11:30pm on January 20 to 9:45am on January 22, 2025. This includes 7 hours of wind chills at or below 20F degrees from 3:52am to 11:05 am on January 21, and 9.5 hours of the same from 10:30pm on January 21 to 7:52am on January 22. A minimum wind chill temperature of 17-18F degrees occurred between 3:52am to 7:52am on January 21, and again from 4:52am to 6:52am on January 22. By proxy and interpolation, similar values were likely across much of coastal Willacy County during the same period, as northwest flow drove the cold air (and low wind chills) to Port Mansfield, along the west shore of Laguna Madre Bay.

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.