A combination of moisture from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico will keep skies fairly cloudy over Central Texas today, with highs in the mid to upper 60s marking the warmest afternoon of the week.  Then our weather gets quite active as two weather systems take aim, with plenty of winter chill and possibly even some snow for the end of the week.

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We'll go from a 20% rain chance (mostly light sprinkles, if anything) during the day to a 40% chance tonight as a disturbance arrives from the west.  It'll be a narrow window of opportunity for showers & a few rumbles of thunder around 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.  Our models show most of the action blossoming immediately southeast of Austin, which means late night travel towards Houston could be slick.

Drier west winds will push through the area overnight, allowing the clouds to break up a bit.  This is good news for skygazers who want to get out and try to make a wish as the Geminid meteor shower ramps up.

Our weather goes from mild to wild tomorrow!  Look for 50s at sunrise then, by the afternoon, it'll feel like freezing 30s out there all due to a polar cold front.  Winds of change will howl into Austin by mid to late morning tomorrow.  Sustained winds from the west-northwest could top out near 30 mph with momentary gusts around 40 to 50 mph.  You might want to prepare by securing any loose objects like lawn furniture and/or garbage cans.  And plan to be extra careful with fire.

Computer models show the cold-cored, upper-level parent disturbance swirling directly over North and Central Texas tomorrow night through early Friday.  The air from 3000' up is expected to be subfreezing, which means any precip that falls might end up coming down in the form of snow and/or a rain/snow mix.  Our in-house model suggests snow flurries as far south as Austin to San Marcos around 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Friday.  There might be a light dusting especially north of the Capital City with some possible 1" or even heavier accumulations from Waco to Dallas. 

As ground-level temps will be above freezing here at home, we expect the snow to melt fairly quickly without much impact to travel.  That said, the forecast could be off!

All of the precip should clear out before noon on Friday, leaving us with a very chilly end to the week.  Winds will still be quite breezy on Friday, making daytime 50s feel like 40s.  Fortunately, the pendulum swings right back with daytime 60s expected this weekend.

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Stay tuned!
--Chief Meteorologist Burton Fitzsimmons (@Burton_Spectrum)