As of 6 PM Monday, more than a million people in Harris County remain without power. And the National Weather Service has issued a second winter storm warning this week. It could be worse than the first. Expect more freezing precipitation and even colder temps. The warning lasts from midnight tonight until 6AM Thursday. Here are the headlines:

ANOTHER WINTER STORM IS EXPECTED TO BRING FREEZING RAIN TO INLAND PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS BEGINNING TUESDAY NIGHT.

BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR TONIGHT AND INTO TUESDAY MORNING

ROADS WILL REMAIN HAZARDOUS

Three Day Forecast

NWS predicts events will unfold as follows:

Dangerous Wind Chills tonight into Tuesday morning followed by two rounds of Winter Precipitation Tuesday night through early Thursday morning.

For tonight into Tuesday morning, record low temperatures in the single digits to lower teens combined with winds speeds up to 10 mph will result in dangerous wind chills of 5 above zero to 10 below zero.

Another storm system will bring two rounds of winter type precipitation Tuesday night through early Thursday morning. The first round Tuesday night into Wednesday morning will bring freezing rain. This will bring renewed accumulation of ice on roads, especially on roads that continue to have ice from earlier systems. For the first round, ice accumulations of 1/10 inch can be expected with localized accumulations of 1/4 inch possible.

The second round Wednesday night into early Thursday morning will bring a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain. Snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are possible along with another ice accumulation of 1/10 inch.

Warnings

For Harris and surrounding counties in SE Texas:

WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST TUESDAY

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TUESDAY TO 6 AM CST THURSDAY

WHAT

Bitterly cold air will continue filtering into the area and temperatures will remain well below freezing through most of Tuesday…and likely late into the week for locations further north from the coast.

Minimum wind chills will remain or fall below zero.

Freezing rain is expected to develop over the area Tuesday night and lift northward on Wednesday through the day. Additional light amounts of freezing rain may re-develop Wednesday night.

Ice accumulations will likely range from around a tenth of an inch across central areas to a quarter of an inch across northern areas.

WHEN

Wind Chill Warning through noon Tuesday.

Winter Storm Warning from Midnight Wednesday through 6 AM Thursday.

IMPACTS

Travel will continue to be very difficult through Tuesday morning with ice covered roads.

Power outages are ongoing.

The extremely low wind chills – below zero – will be life threatening to people and animals outside without adequate warmth or shelter! Another period of difficult travel due to ice is expected from Tuesday night through Wednesday night.

The latest road conditions for Texas can be found at drivetexas.org and at Houston TransStar.

Meaning of Warnings

A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of ice are expected or occurring. A Wind Chill Warning means the combination of very cold air and strong winds will create dangerously low wind chill values. This will result in frost bite and lead to hypothermia or death if precautions are not taken.

Posted by Bob Rehak at 6 PM on Monday, 2/15/2021 Based on Info from the National Weather Service

1266 Days after Hurricane Harvey