Hill Country freeze possible next week

Get ready to layer up: The Austin area and the Hill Country could see freezing weather next week, the National Weather Service said.

A cold front moving into the area from Canada early next week is likely to bring freezing temperatures to Central Texas, particularly in the Hill Country west of Austin. The city could get rain starting Sunday, but it should move out by Monday night, weather service meteorologist Cory Van Pelt said. The exiting rain will make room for dry air to move in, creating a situation for temperatures to fall to freezing, he said.

"It's a pretty good chance that we're going to get temperatures that cold. If we do get to freezing, it'll most likely occur in the Hill Country," Van Pelt said.

Nighttime temperatures around Austin will plunge into the 30s, with a 70 to 80 percent chance of dropping to the freezing point of 32 degrees, on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said. The Hill Country will almost certainly see a freeze on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said. Daytime highs will only reach the 50s in the Austin area, he said, while Hill Country highs won't get any warmer than the upper 40s.

The biting cold might be a shock to your system, but it's not as unusual as you might think, forecasters said.

"Usually the first hard freeze of the year comes sometime around mid-November to mid-December in the Austin area," Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said, and the farther north you go, the earlier the first freeze is.

Blanco had its first freeze on Oct. 29 last year and so did Llano, Nielsen-Gammon said.

"It's fairly normal," he said. "It's about the right time of year for it."

Freezing weather can bring concern for crops and grass fires because of the dry air. But a freeze at this time of year is normal, and farmers prepare for normal, Nielsen-Gammon said. After a particularly wet September and October, fire is not a big issue in the short term, he said.

Additionally, those suffering after a warm summer and fall full of mosquito bites could be getting some relief: Mosquitoes can be killed off by cold temperatures, Nielsen-Gammon said.

"So (a freeze) can be beneficial to humans from that angle," he said.

But for those without anywhere safe to warm up, the freezing temperatures are a big concern, particularly for the city's homeless population.

Angel Flores, a spokesman for Austin's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said city officials will be watching the forecast to decide whether to activate cold weather shelters to take in people and animals who would be on the street otherwise. When temperatures hit 38 degrees and it's wet outside, or 32 degrees when it's dry, city officials coordinate with the Salvation Army, Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and other facilities to make more shelters available.

"Monday is three days away," he said. "But if something happens over the weekend, we would be notified."

Statesman reporter Mary Huber contributed to this article.