http://m.wund.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?brand=mobile&query=mfe

no way snow gets passed CC. i bet 5 internet dollars.

Our snow chances have increased.

How many of you all have lived down here when it actually ices for a period of time or stays really, really cold for a few days, like 20-30 hours below freezing?

Don't count the Xmas miracle snowfall as it did not stick and did not ice and accumulate.

When were the bad freezes, 83 and 89?

The bad Freezes were 83' and 89' but it did not get icy or anything like that. The last true ice storm that I can remember in the valley, were there was ice for a couple of nights in a row was in Feb. of 85. I could be wrong, but I think that was the last ice accumulation. There might have been a brief one in 89' as the rest of the state got hammered.

I've been here since '78 but don't remember the '85 ice storm. This is supposed to be our coldest weather since '96.

PJ

All the years are starting to run together now, LOL. It might have been 84' or even 86', but I am pretty sure it was after Christmas as we were trying to dove hunt in the winter season and there was ice everywhere, it froze and iced over a couple of nights in a row. They weren't hard freezes, just enough to ice water in trees and on bridges and such.

Of course they closed the expressway's and all the other nonsense. I remember quite a few trees breaking with the weight of the ice.

Our memories are quite similar.

Area forecast discussion...updated
National Weather Service Brownsville Texas
932 PM CST Tuesday Feb 1 2011


Short term /rest of tonight through 6 am Thursday/...the cold
Arctic air has finally reached the northern portions of the County Warning Area
this evening as temperatures are rapidly dropping across the area.
Will likely see freezing temperatures across most of deep south
Texas after midnight and even lower temperatures by Wednesday morning. The
question is when and how long temperatures will rise above
freezing late Wednesday morning into Wednesday afternoon before falling into
freezing Wednesday evening. This will be highly dependent on cloud cover
tomorrow as this will limit diurnal heating as very cold air
continues to advect into the lower Rio Grande Valley. The other
question is when and what type of precipitation will develop late
Wednesday night as low to middle level moisture increases along and
offshore the Lower Texas coast in response to the 500mb low/trough
across Colorado and New Mexico tomorrow dropping southward into
northern Mexico Thursday and low level coastal convergence
develops across the western Gulf. Will go with light freezing rain
and sleet developing across the eastern portions of the County Warning Area late
Wednesday night with light accumulations of ice if any on high bridges
and overpasses. Will go ahead and adjust low and high temperatures
tonight through Thursday morning slightly lower to reflect shallow
nature of the airmass which the models may still not have a
complete handle of. This will result in expanding the hard
freeze/freeze warnings and watches as well as the wind chill
warnings and advisories in time to cover the length of freezing
conditions. Will have to wait and see if sleet or ice advisories
will be needed for the coastal sections late Wednesday night into early
Thursday morning.


Long term /6 am Thursday through Tuesday/...on Thursday a deep
and positively tilted upper level trough will be dipping from The
Rockies southeast into central Texas. This will combine with a
weak low level disturbance off the coast to spawn light precipitation
increasing from the east to west during the day Thursday. Chances
of precipitation will increase moving into Thursday night and early
Friday morning. In the meantime...the Arctic airmass remains in
place over the lower Rio Grande Valley region. This will create a
wintry mix for the duration of the event. Model soundings this
evening show a rain and sleet mix...with possibly some snow during
the day Thursday. By Thursday night...conditions should switch to
all winter precipitation with a snow and sleep mix expected toward the
coast...and more of snow flurries west further inland.
Temperatures will begin to warm above freezing by around 9 or 10
am on Friday morning. At this point...the precipitation should transition
back to rain shortly before it exits the area from west to east as
the upper trough begins to lift to the northeast.

Deep freeze likely to resemble 1989; snow in Hidalgo County likely
Elizabeth Findell
02/01/2011 10:35 PM
McALLEN — Local meteorologists are updating their weather predictions for the rest of the week and reporting they are more confident the Rio Grande Valley will see an accumulation of snow or sleet.

Light snow is predicted across Hidalgo County, while higher levels of sleet will likely hit the coasts, said Barry Goldsmith, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville.

It will surely be interesting PJ, some of my funniest memories, and this is sad, are of the RGV when it is cold. I could fill about two pages on a thread with hilarious stuff.

But it always seems that they overblow the forecasts down here. Back in the day ol' lying Larry used to pump out the doom and gloom in terms of the north pole being shifted to McCook or something.

Yes the boys in Brownsville tend to over-do cold fronts and thunderstorms.

Did they cancel schools and such in the Valley for that storm in 89'? I was in school at A&M at the time and we did have two days off, but it was serious snow and ice, mostly ice with all kinds of interesting things going on in and around campus.

I went to HS in Valley, and never remember them cancelling school, even for the ice deal in either 84', 85' or 86'. Now they are cancelling things days ahead of time. Wow, what wusses everybody and everything has become.

I think we were out on Christmas break for at least one of those ice events in the 80s. I don't remember the others. I was at A&M in '89 as well so I missed that one here.

My dad said our pipes froze at the house in the '85 freeze even though he took precautions.
Latest updates sound like we could actually get whacked tomorrow. Accuwx says it will start up at around 5am in the East and then spread West throughout the day.

MISD still saying they're just gonna start late but I wouldn't be surprised if they change their mind in the morning.

PJ, Do you mean the Christmas of 83 freeze? That was the big boy. I think it was below freezing for like 50 something hours with a low of 19 in McAllen. That froze a ton of pipes, I mean a ton. Wiped out the heater to our hottub. I remember helping friends for weeks clean up their houses.

We moved to the Valley in 82 I think and that freeze of 83 changed the Valley for good. Farming never was the same and it permanently took out half the citrus. Then in 89 about half of the remaining citrus got taken out, as that was only the second year of true good production from the trees replanted in 84.

I personally call the 83 freeze "the great colonia" freeze as after that a ton of orchards and farmland started their second life as colonias.

The ice storm that I am trying to remember when, I think it was 85, was really not that cold. I think it only got down to about 28 or 29 degrees. But it drizzled all day and then iced over one of the nights and sleeted some. Actually where it was really bad was out just north of the valley and to the west some. It was like a winter wonderland for a day.

Yes I'm sure he meant 83.




Area forecast discussion
National Weather Service Brownsville Texas
400 am CST Thursday Feb 3 2011


Short term /today through 6 PM Friday/...so far this morning the
temperatures around much of eastern and southern portions of the bro County Warning Area
have stayed above the freezing mark. The sub-freezing temperatures were
currently confined to those areas mainly along and west of Highway
281. Those areas to the east of the Highway are not out of the Woods
this morning and will likely see temperatures reaching or falling below the
freezing mark possibly reaching the critical 28 degree mark. The big
question is how long will they hold there this morning. The
continuing cold air advection in combination with the cloudy skies and potential
evaporative cooling effect of the expected precipitation today will likely
keep temperatures near or below the freezing mark throughout the day today.
This will set the stage for another round of very cold temperatures tonight
with another hard freeze likely through Friday morning as the low
level cold air advection will show no signs of diminish. The 00z bro sounding shows
a pretty solid below freezing saturated layer evident from the 850
mb level extending on down to just above the surface. The layer of
below freezing temperatures will linger on throughout today and into early
Friday with temperatures finally warming back above freezing late Friday. This
cold layer remains pretty saturated through late Friday. Both the NAM
and GFS indicated some strengthening coastal surface troffing which
will provide some low level convergence potentially sparking off
some freezing or frozen precipitation later this evening and on through early
Friday. The GFS shows a wetter scenario versus the NAM solution and
this is due to the GFS showing a stronger surface trough in the
short term. The current kbro radar reflectivity shows only some
light returns across the Gulf of mex with the surface observation from the
inland stations reporting no precipitation. Expect this precipitation to form later
today and tonight and gradually work its way inland. Since the
saturated cold layer is still somewhat shallow versus other precipitation
scenarios the current forecast light quantitative precipitation forecast amounts look on track.
However the main concern through early Friday will be the potential
for a steady freezing rain/drizzle event. If this materializes Road
conditions and power outages could become a major concern. For now
will maintain the Winter Storm Warning in place and will maintain
the precipitation type as a blend of sleet...snow and some freezing rain over
the region. The current warning and advisory alignment look on track
with no major changes needed at this time.

It was spitting snow in NE McAllen a minute ago. Every now and then a bigger real snowflake would appear.

Sergio Sanchez Fromt the City of Harligen....Traffic Advisory.
Expressway 83 and 77 have iced over creating dangerous conditions to motorists. Use caution while travelling. Avoid the expressways. Use off streets or frontage/feeder roads. Numerous accidents have been reported, some major.

Snow was reported this morning on SPI, supposedly some intense flurries.....veremos.

If it gets wetter this will be a big mess.......

Getting wetter. NWS now says 1-3 inches overnight.