This story has been updated.
Hill Country counties north of Bexar are prepping for freezing rain and dangerous road conditions through Wednesday, as the National Weather Service warned of “multiple rounds of wintry precipitation,” including freezing rain and sleet.
Bexar County is not expected to see freezing rain, said a National Weather Service meteorologist Monday morning.
With Tuesday morning temperatures at or around 32 degrees, most school districts canceled classes for the day. San Antonio, North East, Northside, Harlandale, Somerset, Southwest ISD, South San Antonio, East Central, Alamo Heights, Judson, Lackland, Edgewood and Fort Sam Houston all announced their schools and offices would be closed.
Comal County Independent School District announced Monday afternoon that all campuses and departments would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Bexar County Public Works staff were readying equipment to respond to potentially hazardous conditions “when and as needed,” including trucks equipped to de-ice and aid traction on icy roads and clear downed trees.
However, county offices and courts were closed Tuesday.
Bexar County is just to the south of a corridor from west-central Texas to the Tennessee and Lower Ohio valleys that will see what the weather agency described as “arctic air mixed with a surge in moisture” that is “setting the stage for an extensive and very dangerous ice event.”
Hill Country counties were under a winter storm warning, while Bexar County has been placed under a less severe winter weather advisory. Heller said the county was not expected to see freezing rain on roadways except perhaps early Wednesday morning on elevated roadways.
Monday’s light drizzle was expected to increase Tuesday afternoon and into Wednesday morning; up to an inch could fall over the next several days, said meteorologist Emily Heller.
That rain could help San Antonio catch up to average precipitation levels, Heller said.
Average rainfall for January, measured at the San Antonio International Airport, is almost 2 inches, but thus far has only reached about two-thirds of an inch, “so this could definitely help us catch up,” she said.
In the Hill Country, that rain is expected to freeze on roadways, making for dangerous driving conditions.
“We’re really trying to message that freezing rain is really dangerous, because you can’t see it,” Heller said. “So if you’re on the roads and it’s freezing out, please take caution. Drive slowly.”
Temperatures in San Antonio were expected to stay cold for several days, but overnight temperatures were expected to stay just above freezing Monday and Tuesday nights, before warming up slightly to 40-degree lows Wednesday and Thursday nights.
CPS Energy issued its usual email, phone and text messages warning of possible freezing rain and wind gusts, both of which can cause power outages. “We ask for your patience as we work in possible dangerous driving and working conditions.”
Residents can text the word OUT to 47854 or click the button at the top of CPS Energy’s outage map to report power outages.
