The air is a little dryer than expected this morning as noted by the 'dew point' in the lower 20's this morning. Why is this important?? Because IF the dew point stays low and it begins to rain as is forecast for this evening, tonight and tomorrow, the temperature will drop due to 'evaporative cooling' as the rain fall through the dry air. It is possible that by early tomorrow morning the temp may have dropped enough to support sleet mixing with the rain.
This is why Gene, Mario and I have been calling for a chance for sleet mixing with rain for Thursday morning. At This point we do not expect any travel problems here in southeast Texas. There may very well be some travel trouble on bridges and overpasses from Austin to Waco to Dallas on Thursday.
