130pm CST.. Thursday / 12 January 2012

…. Much Cooler …. Winds Diminishing by Later Today and Tonight ….
…. Overnight Freezes Expected in Most Areas Tonight and Friday Night ….
…. Another Cold Front.. with a Slim Chance of Rain.. Early Next Week ….

On this Thursday… a large dome of surface high pressure.. in the wake of last night’s cold front.. extends from Texas into the Rockies and the intermountain west. As a result of this surface pressure pattern, southwesterly surface winds in advance of the front are shifting gusty northwesterly across the area as the front passes.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere… a strong and deep trough.. or line.. of upper air low pressure extends southward over the eastern 2/3rds of the United States. As a result of this pressure pattern, the upper air winds over our area of Texas are strong northwesterly.

A strong cold front has completed its move through Texas. Much cooler temperatures under a clear to partly cloudy sky will be the rule over the next couple of days. I expect a pretty general freeze in the overnight hours locally for both Thursday and Friday nights.

As the surface high.. behind the front.. continues to settle east and southeastward, we’ll see a return to a south southeasterly wind flow over the weekend. Enough moisture will return for late night and early morning low cloudiness with slim rain chances by late Sunday into Monday. These slim rain chances will continue until another (weaker) cold front moves across the area next Tuesday.

Skies will partially clear with only slightly cooler temperatures in the wake of next Tuesday front for the middle part of next week.

My forecast confidence through the weekend is very high. My forecast confidence.. for early into mid parts of next week.. is medium to high (exact timing of the Tuesday cold front as well as any rain chances is still a little uncertain).

For Austin and south central Texas… tonight will be mostly clear. Lows in the 20s to near 30. Northwesterly wind will decrease to 5 to 12 mph. For tomorrow, it’ll be mostly sunny. Highs in the 50s. Southwesterly wind 5 to 10 mph.

Have a good Thursday night and Friday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel