It took 36 hours for our first record high of 2026!
It took only 36 hours for the first record high of 2026! The new record is at least 82° with still some time to warm up before sunset. We’ve kicked off 2026 largely how December 2025 ended: quite warm! Although temperatures are set to surge today, a cold front is set to push through overnight tonight and will drop our temperatures to about 10° warmer than average this weekend. Another cold front is set to move through late next week with rain chances surrounding it’s arrival! We could even see some chilly weather moving in next weekend into the following week.
Thanks to an area of low pressure pushing through Oklahoma and Arkansas this morning, we’ll see a strong, dry westerly wind during the day today. Westerly winds means today’s air is arriving from West Texas. West Texas is not only much drier, but it’s also higher in elevation! As air moves from a higher elevation to a lower elevation, it is compressed and warms up. With west winds gusting to near 30 MPH, we’re expecting temperatures to surge into the low-to-mid 80s this afternoon.
The low bringing us today’s westerly winds will also, eventually, send a cold front through Central Texas. The front actually won’t arrive until the overnight hours, so tonight’s temperatures remain in the 60s through at least midnight with northerly winds overnight pushing temperatures down to around 50° Saturday morning. The overnight cold front doesn’t have a ton of “cold” air with it, so highs both on Saturday and Sunday will stay just a touch below 70°. Our coldest morning will be Sunday as we’re out the door with temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s.
Another big warm up is in store for us early next week as we warm into the low-to-mid 70s Monday and into the lower 80s Tuesday. Tuesday’s record high of 84° is likely safe, but southwest winds are in the forecast and that could push highs closer to the record depending on what time of day those southwesterly winds arrive. Cloudiness begins to return Wednesday which cools us down into the mid-to-upper 70s, but we’re also expecting an upper-level low to swirl through the state Wednesday night into Thursday. This low will bring us our first chance for rain in 2026! Nearly all of the day Wednesday should be dry, but scattered showers and likely non-severe storms are possible Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Rain chances are near 50% Wednesday night and we could pick up a quick half-inch to an inch of rain!
Another cold front is set to push through next Friday which likely drops highs closer to and even below average next weekend, but the front will not scour out moisture from the atmosphere. Rain chances aren’t high yet, but there are opportunities for precipitation next weekend and potentially into the beginning of the following week. You might be seeing some scary looking maps floating around social media showing a big winter storm across the Southern Plains. It is FAR too early to say whether or not this will even happen! Right now, it looks like temperatures will drop next weekend into the following week, but long-range forecast model data is showing temperatures too warm for wintry precipitation.
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