Updated 915am CT – Wednesday / 01 July 2015

.. Slim Rain Chances Continue Today ..
.. Afternoon High Temperatures Near Seasonal Averages ..
.. More of the Same for the Fourth of July with a Slim Rain Chance Returning ..

On this Wednesday…. a trough.. or line.. of low pressure extends southwestward from western Kansas across the Oklahoma panhandle southwestward across the western Texas panhandle into east central new Mexico. Surface high pressure is over the eastern half of the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of this surface weather pattern, our local surface winds are southerly.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere.. an upper level high pressure area, acting like a “lid” on the atmosphere is centered over Utah and the four corners region with an upper level low pressure trough extending southward from Hudson Bay across the Great Lakes states and southward into the eastern third of the USA. As a result, our upper air winds at about 18,500 feet, are light and variable.

A summer weather pattern continues with a fairly moist, tropical air mass holding across the area. With daytime heating combining with the moist, unstable air mass, I expect that we’ll see widely scattered rain showers and thunderstorms today before rain chances diminish a bit for the latter part of the week.

It looks like a rather typical and benign summer weather pattern prevailing late week through our Fourth of July holiday weekend with afternoon high temperatures near seasonal averages.

I’ll reintroduce slim rain shower and thunderstorm chances for Saturday into Sunday, but, at least at this time, I think the chances will be fairly minimal and I don’t expect a wash out. However, I urge you to be weather aware and keep an eye on the sky through the Fourth of July weekend and remember how deadly cloud to ground lightning can be!!

Have a good Wednesday….
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel

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