First Alert Weather: Freeze warning issued Thursday across the Valley

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -A ton of cold air on the backside of that wild winter storm on Valentine’s night will bring us freezing temperatures Thursday morning. That’s why we’ve declared a First Alert. This is your heads up to protect your sensitive plants, exposed pipes and bring in your pets as a freeze warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for the entire Valley and a hard freeze warning has been issued for the cities south of the metro area. We are projecting an overnight low of 35 degrees at Sky Harbor Airport. That means many outlying areas will be at or below freezing by morning. The only hiccup in the forecast is lingering winds as that low slowly pulls east of us. Just a little breeze can keep it from dipping down to the freezing mark. The High Country continues to dig out from over a foot of new snow. Lows will be in the single digits to below zero in many areas.

Look for sunny skies here in the Valley on Thursday, with highs in the low 60s. We can expect it to be partly cloudy on Friday, with highs warming to near-normal temperatures, right around 68 degrees.

High pressure will build in after Thursday, bringing temperatures back to the mid-70s by the Presidents’ Day weekend. Long-range models are watching another low-pressure system that will likely get cutoff from the jet stream. At this point, these types of systems tend to play havoc with our forecasting models regarding timing and precipitation chances. We’ll keep you updated as we get closer and get a better idea of how that storm will play out.

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