Buckle up, Fort Worth: It’s going to be nasty cold. Here’s a blow-by-blow forecast

If you thought it was miserably cold Friday in Fort Worth, you’ll soon know the true meaning of misery.

North Texas will dip below freezing Friday night and not emerge until Tuesday afternoon after having endured wind chills of -15. And then, of course, there’s all the ice, sleet and snow.

Here’s a detailed look of what you can expect in Fort Worth from our National Weather Service office here.

Friday, 10 p.m.-midnight: The Arctic cold front will have penetrated deep enough into the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the rain to start freezing onto surfaces — aka freezing rain. Elevated surfaces such as bridges should glaze over quite quickly. Temperatures will keep ticking downward to around 25 degrees with blustery winds.

Saturday morning: The cold air keeps rolling in relatively close to the ground; as that freezing air mass thickens, it’ll start turning the rain into sleet, especially before dawn. The sleet could be heavy at times. These broad bands of rain might develop thunderstorms Friday night or Saturday morning, which in this case is called “thundersleet” or “thunder-freezing rain.”

Saturday afternoon: Through the day, the temperature will continue to drop to about 23 by 4 p.m., with wind chill values as cold as 11. Forecast models show a “lull” in precipitation, but it isn’t over yet! More widespread, heavy precipitation starts Saturday evening through Saturday night.

Saturday night: A few thunderstorms are likely, which means periods of heavier sleet and freezing rain. Temps will drop to 14 degrees with wind chill values as low as 1. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than 1 inch is possible.

Sunday morning: North Texas will should finally start to see actual snow (or a mix of snow and sleet) early in the day before everything tapers off by noon. By then, everything will be coated with a layer of ice one-quarter to one-half of an inch, topped by 1 to 5 inches of sleet and snow (the higher amounts will be closer to Oklahoma). It isn’t melting; temperatures will reach only 21 degrees during the day, with 25 mph wind gusts.

Sunday night/Monday: The skies will start to clear, but you do not want to be outside. Temperatures will be in the single digits — around 6 in central Fort Worth — with gusty winds making it feel like -5 to -15. Monday’s now looking to remain below freezing with a high around 28 degrees and a low of 11 overnight into Tuesday.

(We haven’t talked much about Tuesday yet, when the afternoon highs will break through the freezing mark, but Tuesday morning wind chills might be -5 to 5 degrees).

Later: Just when we’re getting back to normal, we *may* be looking at another “potential winter weather maker” next weekend. The outlook is unclear, but it’ll be nothing like this winter storm. In true Texas fashion, it may be here and gone within a day.