Our tropical atmosphere will likely warm into the mid and upper 80s today, making it the hottest of the week, before a spring cold front brings stormy weather back to town. Today’s 20% rain chance may amount to a few evening storms, but that chance will rise and includes storm potential for the holiday weekend ahead…
One step out the door and you’ll feel the Gulf breeze and the sauna-like weather it’s delivered. Temps barely dropped to 70 in some areas this morning, and, with plenty of sunshine coming our way, will soon rise into the high 80s at times this afternoon. Today’s heat index may rise to 90 degrees!
Isolated showers and a few storms could develop by evening in this somewhat unstable atmosphere, but most areas won’t see rain today.
Futurecast shows a cold front moving towards Central Texas tomorrow night, stirring up storms in advance of its arrival. We’ve raised the chance to 40% for Thursday afternoon and evening.
Without much upper-level support, we think this cold front may stall out over or just north of the area and possibly not even completely move through, keeping our rain chance high into Friday as well — 50%. As storm clouds block more of the sun, we’ll only see highs in the low to mid 80s then.
Holiday Weekend Ahead… The fine print “subject to change” always aggravates me, so it’s not much fun to deliver this news: our rain chance for Saturday and Sunday has been upgraded. Now, a developing disturbance west of Mexico will try to sweep our direction, stirring up scattered afternoon storms Saturday (30% chance) and more widespread storms on Sunday (40% chance.) Though I wouldn’t cancel outdoor plans, make sure you have a “plan B” or at least a sturdy shelter to seek cover in should one of these storms approach. All it takes is one heavy downpour to ruin the fun. With extra clouds, we’ll likely only top out in the mid 80s Saturday with low to mid 80s Sunday. See the the 8-day forecast for more details.
Hurricane Ready… NOAA’s just released their Atlantic Hurricane Season forecast for 2007. Experts there predict 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 5 major (cat 3+) hurricanes — quite similar to the forecast we’ve been relaying since December from Colorado State University. There’s an overall 75% for an above-normal season this year. Prepare now by creating an emergency plan for your family. Practice running through the steps while the weather’s nice. And make sure your property is storm-ready. Click here for more tips.
Jarrell: Ten Years Later… Part three of our look back at the 10th anniversary of Jarrell’s F5 tornado airs today on News 8 Austin. Be sure to join Meteorologist Maureen McCann for this insightful look back at how one big but brief storm changed many Central Texas lives forever.
Enjoy your Wednesday.
Meteorologist
Burton Fitzsimmons
