Hill Country bracing for season's first winter storm

(KXAN) - The winter weather is moving into  Central Texas faster than expected, the National Weather Service said late Thursday afternoon.

The season's first winter storm began moving into the Hill Country, giving the region its first taste of snow in about a year. 

A storm system darting in from Northern Mexico will pull Pacific moisture into the Lone Star State on Thursday evening with main impacts after midnight. El Paso was reporting snow by late morning Thursday.  This moisture will meet up with cool air diving in from the north, and will provide central and western Texas with possible snow, sleet, and freezing rain. 

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The National Weather Service has posted winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings for multiple counties to the west of our viewing area.  Even though, we have been left out of the loop, that does not mean we are out of the woods. 

Early Friday morning, some residents in the Hill Country may wake up to a light wintry mix for their commute.  Even though the ground is too warm to support accumulation, it still may be slick in some spots during Friday's early morning hours.

Current thinking is that the combination of light snow, freezing rain, and sleet will be confined to areas west of I-35.  Temperatures for points east won't fall far enough to allow for frozen precipitation.  Rather, we are expecting spotty, cold rain for those neighborhoods.

Val Verde, Edwards, Real, Kerr, Gillespie, Llano, and Burnet Counties:
A Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 7:00 p.m. Thursday to noon on Friday.

Weather:
Accumulating snow, generally one inch or less, along and north of a line from Comstock to Kerrville to Burnet.  One or two spots could receive two inches of snow.

Impact:
The snow will mostly accumulate on grassy surfaces, some on bridges, but not much on roads.  Anyone  driving needs to slow down (at least 15 mph below the speed limit), leave plenty of room between them and
the vehicle in front (2-3 times the normal distance), and anticipate corners, stop lights/signs, and highway entrance ramps by slowing down even more if snow or sleet are falling and sticking on the road.

For the rest of the area:
Weather:
Some snow and sleet may mix with rain along and north of U.S. 90, which includes the Austin and San Antonio metro areas.  No accumulation is expected.

Impact:
Roads may be wet, mostly from rain, but no freezing is expected (even on bridges), so normal driving for wet roads should suffice -- folks still need to slow down some and play closer attention to other vehicles, making lane changes, etc.

Once the sun pops up over the horizon Friday morning, and temperatures climb above the freezing mark, the wintry threat will be over with.  From there, the afternoon hours will still include the chance for a few spotty rain showers, with highs in the low to mid 40s.