Warming Trend Begins
May 5th, 2009 by BurtonIt’s a happy, hot Cinco de Mayo!
Our morning stratocumulus broke to a bit more sunshine by noon all as south winds breeze up to near 20mph, sending in the humidity that’ll make it feel like 100 by tomorrow.
An elevated threat for tornadoes and hail-producing storms to our north along the I-20 corridor keeps stormchasers and mets like us quite busy here at the peak of severe weather season. The largest storm chase in recorded history, called VORTEX2, will produce the most and best data about tornadoes we’ve ever had and it’s taking place today where the Storm Prediction Center projects a MODERATE risk for severe storms.
Futurecast shows no rain making it to our area, though a slim 20% chance looms overhead as a few of those North Texas storms might move southeast while dying out. Otherwise, the overnight overcast returns and temps drop only to the low 70s by daybreak tomorrow. High dewpoints may yield morning mist, then the clouds will gradually break through midday Wednesday. Upper-level high pressure builds across the southwest to produce above-normal mid 90s in our area through midweek.
A cold front attempts to sweep south this weekend, hence a slim rain chance back in our 8-day forecast on Sunday. Stay tuned as we track these spring storms and summerlike heat.
Aquarid Meteors… Pesky cloudcover will make tonight’s annual peak of the Aquarid meteors nearly impossible in Central Texas but we’ll be able to share in photos from across the globe when we wake tomorrow. Check out this sky chart. If skies were clear enough, one might be able to look east for as many as 30 meteors an hour at optimal viewing just after the moon sets around 4:20am and prior to when the sun starts brightening our skies again around 6:30am.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Meteorologist
Burton Fitzsimmons
