AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Local leaders implored residents across Central Texas to prepare for an arctic blast that's expected to bring extreme cold temperatures to the area beginning Sunday.
"The chief message we have is preparedness," Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Thursday morning during a press conference at City Hall.
Watson, along with Travis County Judge Andy Brown and the leaders of nearly every city department, spoke on the city's efforts to prepare for the upcoming storm, which is now expected to send temperatures below freezing for as much as 48-60 hours for some spots in the Hill Country and north of Austin.
The city's says it will open cold weather shelters on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights, with CapMetro offering free bus rides to the registration site at One Texas Center (505 Barton Springs Road). Registration begins at 5 p.m. each night.
With Monday being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many city facilities are already scheduled to be closed; however, three Austin Public Library branches - the Little Walnut Creek branch, the Ruiz branch, and the Terrazas branch - will open as warming centers from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Monday.
While precipitation chances aren't high with this event - and forecasters are in no way expecting anything similar to either of the last two significant winter storms - there is a slight chance of light freezing drizzle and rain that could begin late Sunday evening and continue into Monday.
The National Weather Service says some areas could see light freezing rain beginning as early as Sunday afternoon, with the best chances Sunday night into early Monday morning. A trace to 0.05" of accumulation could be possible, with worst case forecasts calling for a tenth of an inch.
Impacts would be limited to icy roadways, especially on elevated surfaces. Any ice that does accumulate is not expected to stick around long on Monday, according to the NWS.
Wind chills are expected to be another concern, with wind chill values by Tuesday morning falling into the single digits, even below zero - especially in parts of the Hill Country.
Austin Energy general manager Bob Kahn said the utility completed its efforts to prepare its equipment for winter conditions at all of its plants and substations. Officials with ERCOT, the state's electric grid operator, have said their forecast is calling for higher demand and lower reserves, but no emergency operations are being anticipated right now.