High sixties during day time (23C) and freezing tempertures at night (-1C). After a cloudy and windy day with warm temperatures around lunch time, it cooled down rapidly to start freezing after midnight in Austin on Sun. This is the second time around this year that this phenomenon has occured. For the non-local reader: the steep tempereture drops are caused by a cold, dry, continental air-mass coming from Canada, pushing south. When it has enough momentum, it’ll push all the moist warm air from the Gulf of Mexico southward and replace it from ground to midlevels. This push south is usually accompanied by some rain showers that can produce snow. When the Gulf moisture finally makes it way back north the warm air glides on top of the cold air, producing fog, and drizzle and sometimes freezing rain – phenomenons associated with warm fronts. After a day or two the airmass will have penetrated the lower levels and the much warmer temperatures are back.

This year is special in that the cold temperatures have started almost two months early. We also had a particularly dry summer with well below average rains. In fact we have water usage restrictions in place to preserve this resource during the drought.