CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Unseasonably cold Arctic air plunged into South Texas overnight, dropping today's daytime temperatures to the 40s and 50s. The cold air slides east midweek and leaves us fair and warmer Thursday and Friday. The Arctic air is accompanied by widespread low clouds, a strong north wind and areas of light rain. Wind chills will hover in the 30s and 40s the next two nights. The overrunning rain will move east of the region midday Tuesday, but overnights will remain chilly. Return flow will allow rapid warming late Wednesday through the coming weekend, with daytime readings returning to the 80s and overnights back into the 60s.
Rainfall associated with the cold snap will be modest, at best. Most areas will receive less than a quarter inch of rain through Tuesday, with southwestern Brush Country areas up to a half inch. A weak disturbance moving through the State on Saturday will not have much moisture to work with, and any resulting shower activity will remain in the coastal waters. The strong north wind through Tuesday will lessen and become easterly by Wednesday, then southeasterly the latter half of the week. The strong north wind today and Tuesday dictate wind advisories along the coast, and a Gale Warning today for the innercoastal waterways, bays and adjacent coastal waters. A Small Craft Advisory replaces the Gale Warning for Tuesday.
The tropics remain somewhat active in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific. Tropical Storm Pilar is meandering off the coast of Guatemala and does not seem to pose a threat. An area of disturbed weather in the eastern Caribbean will move westward the next several days and has a moderate chance of becoming a tropical cyclone by this weekend as it approaches the southwestern Caribbean.