UPDATE: WINTER STORM WARNING issued for Acadiana through Monday

As the Arctic air continues to plunge southward the threat for wintry precipitation and ice accumulation is increasing. Mostly cloudy and cold through the remainder of this afternoon as highs only reach the mid-30s. With strong northerly winds, wind chills in the 20s throughout the day.

By tonight, temperatures will be dropping into the 20s. Meanwhile, an upper-level disturbance will work across Texas, spawning a surface low across the Gulf of Mexico. As this low works eastward, precipitation will work into the area. Models have been pushing the precipitation forward more and more and now it appears we could start to get some freezing rain as early as midnight, possibly lasting through the early afternoon hours of tomorrow. The dominant mode of precipitation will be freezing rain, but sleet could be possible as well as models have also trended colder with the atmospheric profile. Models honing in on freezing rain accumulation totals of 0.25-0.75," which is enough to cause major travel disruption and some power outages. I think total ice accumulation could be in the 0.50"-1" range with 60% of the precipitation being freezing rain and another 30% being sleet. There remains a slight chance of snow, especially across the northern portions of Acadiana, but with warm air aloft I believe it will be difficult to get accumulating snow as far south as I-10. Here are some of the latest high-resolution models, regarding total ice and snow accumulation.

Precipitation will end tomorrow afternoon, but thereafter temperatures will begin to plummet. Overnight lows could be in the mid-teens Tuesday morning! Pictured below are three different high-resolution models (HRRR, GRAF, and RPM) all showing lows in the teens. I believe 16-20 degrees is a good consensus at the moment.

Temperatures may not get above freezing on Tuesday, meaning any ice on the roads may stay there through Tuesday and Tuesday night. We may not get above freezing again until Wednesday, which would mean 48-60 hours of sub-freezing temperatures in some areas of Acadiana. This will definitely be a hard freeze when plants, pets, and pipes will all have to be protected.