Updated 845am CDT Wednesday / 17 July 2013
…. Clouds and Rain Chances Continue with Unstable Weather Pattern ….
…. More Sunshine by Tomorrow and Late Week into the Weekend ….
On this Wednesday morning…. an area of high pressure continues over the middle Mississippi Valley and the Tennessee Valley back southwestward into Texas. As a result, surface winds are east northeasterly across our local area.
In the upper levels of the atmosphere… an upper air low pressure area is over central New Mexico with an upper level high slowly building southwestward over the Mississippi Valley. 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 15 to 25 mph.
As upper level low pressure.. to our distant west northwest.. continues to prevail over the area, a moist and unstable atmosphere persists across our area. Again today, this is producing a moist and unstable air mass across the area with the expectation of more rain showers and isolated thunderstorms today.. tonight with reduced rain chances tomorrow. Today and tonight, clouds and precipitation will continue to hold daytime high temperatures to below seasonal averages and nighttime lows to near or slightly below seasonal averages.
The latest guidance suggests that upwards of 1/2 to 1 inch of rain could fall over the area over the 24 hours or so… very beneficial amounts given the ongoing drought across the area.
As the low level low weakens and continues to move out of the area and as the upper level high pressure over the Mississippi Valley builds back southwestward into our area.. a drier and more stable air mass will take hold beginning tomorrow and continuing Friday through the weekend and into next week. With the increased sunshine, afternoon high temperatures will rebound to near seasonal averages.
There are no tropical threats at this time according to the forecasters at the NWS/National Hurricane Center.
Have a good Wednesday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel
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