Updated 845am CT – Friday / 16 May 2014

…. Sunshine Continues ….
…. A Warming Trend Underway ….

On this Friday morning…. surface high pressure is over the western Gulf of Mexico and northeast Mexico south of Brownsville. A weakening stationary front extends westward from northern Louisiana into north central Texas and then westward into west Texas. As a result of this surface weather pattern, our local surface winds are southwesterly.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere… a deep counterclockwise rotating trough, or line, of upper air low pressure extends southward from Wisconsin and Illinois into the lower Mississippi Valley. The upper level winds over south central Texas and the Austin metro area about 18,000 feet above the ground, are northwesterly 30 to 40 mph.

A dry and stable weather pattern prevails with the surface high pressure.. currently south of our area.. moving slowly eastward allowing for a return southwesterly surface wind today becoming more southerly tonight into the weekend with a few clouds returning by Saturday night and Sunday into early and mid next week.

With the return to south and southwesterly surface winds, a warming trend is, of course, now underway.

The dry weather pattern will continue into the middle part of next week.

Regarding my forecast, my local forecast confidence: My forecast confidence is very high over the next seven day period.

Have a good Friday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel

Contact me:
tkimmel@austin.utexas.edu
http://www.facebook.com/troykimmel