The National Weather Service expects the season's real first cold front to push into San Antonio around rush hour or a little later on Wednesday.
Forecasters said the cold front will force temperatures down 10 to 15 degrees below normal from late Wednesday through Sunday before a warming trend kicks in next week.
Highs on Thursday and Friday will be in the 60s in San Antonio and in the lower 70s on Saturday and Sunday. The coldest of the cold will come before sun up on Friday and Saturday mornings with lows in the upper 40s. It will be chiller in the Hill Country.
It will be rainy Wednesday afternoon through early Thursday morning with occasional isolated thunderstorms. Flooded streams and creeks in the city cannot be ruled out, but otherwise no severe weather is expected.
The first cold fronts of the season generally spark a few house fires each year in San Antonio as residents fire up heat systems, space heaters, fire places, and in the county, fire pits, for the first time.
The Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department has tips for county homeowners on using burn pits safely.
Fire pits can be used even during burn bans as long as the fire pit has large metal sides, built up concrete blocks, or constructed of cement and rock. A fire pit should be a minimum of 2 feet high and 3 feet wide. It must also be completely covered by a fine metal grate to prevent flying embers. Fire officials say fires should be built in proportion to the size of the pit.
There is not a burn ban in place in the county right now.
Fire pits should also not ever be left unattended, kept at least 25 feet away from structures, and be clear of people and flammable objects for at least 3 feet all around.
Kids especially need to be trained to keep their distance.
A fire extinguisher, like a garden hose, should also be nearby.
The cold front will make New Braunfels feel a little more like its sister city, Braunfels, Germany this time of year, just in time for Wurstfest.
The event that celebrates the city's German heritage, which includes hot sausage, flowing beer taps, and polka music, opens this Friday on the Wurstfest grounds at Landa Park with the 5 p.m. sausage bite ceremony on Friday.
The 10-day annual event attracts more than 100,000 visitors during its run.
It features a new Marktplatz building after a fire ravaged the previous one in 2019. It also marks the return of Wurstfest from the pandemic.
