Updated  915am Friday / 24 February 2012

…. Temperatures Cool to Slightly Below Normal over the Next Few Days ….
…. High Clouds But Still Abundant Sunshine Into the Weekend ….
…. A Relatively Dry Seven Day Forecast; Very Slim Rain Chances in the Forecast ….

On this Friday… a low pressure area is over the Ohio Valley region with a cold front extending southwestward into southern Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico off the upper and middle Texas coast. High pressure.. in the wake of the cold front.. is centered over Colorado. As a result of this surface pressure pattern, a north northeasterly surface wind continues across our area.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere… a broad trough.. or line.. of upper air low pressure is located over the central part of the USA. Just outside of this counterclockwise rotation, a closed upper low pressure disturbance is centered over the west central portions of Mexico. As a result of this pressure pattern, the upper air winds are moderate west northwesterly across Texas.

Cooler.. drier and more stable air will build into the area through tonight as surface high pressure from the Rockies and the plains states moves our way.

As the surface high moves eastward, surface winds will return southerly by late tomorrow and tomorrow night into Sunday and the first part of next week with clouds on the increase once again.

Another cold front.. Pacific in nature.. will approach the area and move through the area by late Tuesday into Wednesday. Due to very low probabilities and uncertainty that enough low level moisture will return, I will not include rain chances for this frontal passage at this time.

Another cold front appears to move into Texas by next Friday, but, again, I think that rain chances look limited.

My forecast confidence through the remainder through the weekend is very high. My confidence for the forecast for early and mid part of next week drops to medium to high.

For Austin and south central Texas… tonight will be mostly clear.  Lows in the 30s to near 40 with north northeasterly wind. For tomorrow, partly cloudy. Highs around 60 with easterly wind becoming southerly by late afternoon.

Have a good Friday night and Saturday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel