Updated 845am CDT Thursday / 2 May 2013

Unseasonably Cool Temperatures ….
A Weekend Warm Up ….

On this Thursday morning…. a strong cold front is moving southeastward through Texas with strong polar high pressure building into Texas from the north northwest in the wake of the front. Given this surface pressure pattern, surface winds are gusty northerly across our area of the state.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere…. a deep eastward moving trough.. or line.. of upper level low pressure extends south southwestward from the Dakotas into west Texas. Given this upper air pattern, winds over south central Texas and the Austin metro area about 18,000 feet above the ground are north northwesterly 15 to 25 mph.

As the upper air trough over the central  USA moves eastward, the strong cold front.. as advertised.. has moved swiftly across the area with isolated to widely scattered rain showers and thunderstorms as the front moved through in the predawn hours earlier today.  Unseasonably strong polar high pressure.. moving into the central USA right out of Canada.. is ushering in much cooler temperatures tomorrow through Friday for our area. Some overnight low temperatures on Thursday night as well as on Friday night may reach into the upper 30s in some outlying low lying areas.

As the polar high moves east of the area.. southerly winds will return to the area by Saturday through the remainder of the weekend into next week with warmer temperatures and increased low level moisture returning to the area.

Have a good Thursday night and Friday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel

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