When will we see the last freeze of the season in Central Texas?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As meteorological winter draws to a close, the days continue to get longer and the average temperatures get warmer. With the risk of nighttime and early morning freezes in Central Texas this time of year, you may be curious when we're done with those 32 degrees or colder nights.

The good news is ... we're getting close to our typical last freeze of the season, especially in the Austin metro and southeast.

Average last freezes of the cold season

Austin and much of Travis County averages the last freeze of the season around Feb. 15 with the urban heat island effect putting an early end to the cold.

Our eastern Counties and Hays County typically get a final freeze of the season during the last few days of February.

Williamson County stays colder for longer, with the average last freeze around the first week of March.

No surprise the Hill Country stays colder the longest with an average last freeze closer to the third week of March.

Are there more sub-freezing nights coming soon?

The short answer to this is probably. A cold front arriving Saturday morning will bring temperatures down into the low 30s Sunday morning with the potential for near or below freezing temperatures. Areas more likely to freeze are those away from Austin, but even the city may freeze.

Long term outlook

Beyond Sunday we're not seeing near or below freezing mornings anytime soon. In fact, the latest 8-14 day temperature outlook for Central Texas is for warmer than normal temperatures.

This doesn't mean we won't have a few cold days in the mix or one or two sub-freezing mornings, but the pattern in general will be in favor of temperatures staying above freezing.

Of course, this doesn't mean the last sub-freezing temperatures of 2022; more cold nights will return as we head toward the end of fall and into the beginning of next winter.