AFTERNOON UPDATE: Latest on Arctic airmass and winter precipitation tonight
Still above freezing Lafayette and points southeastward, but below freezing west and north of Lafayette.
Precipitation is already showing up across southeastern Texas/southwestern Louisiana, mainly in the form of some light freezing rain. The rest of Acadiana should cool to at or below freezing in the next 2-4 hours as this wave of moisture moves in. A window of light freezing rain, starting around 5 pm and ending after midnight, could lead to ice accumulation on bridges and overpasses. Still on track for a hard freeze tonight with temperatures getting below freezing around 6 pm and staying there through the nighttime hours.
Models have trended colder for tonight, probably due to winds moving over the snowpack to our north. Lows could be in the 20-23 degree range tomorrow morning. With northerly wind gusts of 25-35 mph, wind chills will easily be in the single digits by tomorrow morning.
**VERY IMPORTANT*** Models now barely have us getting above freezing tomorrow, settling in the 31-34 degree range for high temperatures. This means we'll, at the very least, stay below freezing through most of the day tomorrow with only a few afternoon hours of above-freezing temperatures. This adds more stress on exposed and vulnerable pipes.
Hopefully, the sun will help us and get us above freezing tomorrow afternoon, because another hard freeze is expected tomorrow night. So far, no surprises today as the forecast from yesterday looks on track.