Updated 845am CDT Tuesday / 9 July 2013
…. A Dry Weather Pattern Through the Seven Day Forecast Period….
On this Tuesday 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 into the southwestern USA. 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 southeasterly 10 to 20 mph.
The surge of tropical moisture.. from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.. that resulted in rain chances yesterday has now worked well west of the area as the upper level high pressure area to our north builds back southward over the area with a dry summer weather pattern expected. Temperatures will also warm to above average with daytime highs near or above 100 degrees for the mid and latter part of the new week and first part of the weekend.
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 Tuesday night and Wednesday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel
Contact me:
tkimmel@austin.utexas.edu
http://www.facebook.com/troykimmel