Updated 845am CDT Monday / 8 July 2013
…. Scattered Rain Showers and Thunderstorms Today into Early Tonight ….
…. A Dry Weather Pattern Through the Remainder of the Seven Day Forecast ….
On this Monday morning…. surface high pressure is located over the southeastern USA and the western Atlantic Ocean. A line.. or trough.. of low pressure is over far west Texas and eastern New Mexico. Given this surface pressure pattern, surface winds are southerly across our area.
In the upper levels of the atmosphere… a large area of upper air high pressure.. acting like a lid on the atmosphere.. is over the southern plains and southern Rockies from Kansas and Oklahoma westward through northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. As a result of this upper air pattern, winds over south central Texas and the Austin metro area about 18,000 feet above the ground are easterly 15 to 25 mph.
A surge of tropical moisture.. from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.. has made its way onshore and, as a result, in combination with day time heating, we’ll see another round today of rain showers and thunderstorms under an otherwise partly cloudy sky.
Beyond today, the upper level high pressure area to our north will build back southward over the area with a dry summer weather pattern expected. Temperatures will also warm to above average with daytime highs near 100 degrees for the mid and latter part of the new week.
The tropics.. the Atlantic Ocean, specifically.. are a little more active with tropical cyclone Chantal moving northwestward in the Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles. Tropical storm watches/warnings have been posted for much of the Lesser Antilles.
Have a good Monday night and Tuesday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel
Contact me:
tkimmel@austin.utexas.edu
http://www.facebook.com/troykimmel