Updated  130pm Friday / 27 January 2012

…. Sunshine and Dry Weather Through the Weekend ….
…. A Dry Cold Front Will Move Through the Area Late Tonight into Early Saturday ….
…. Cooler Temperatures Going into our Weekend Then Warmer into Next Week ….

On this Friday… surface high pressure is east of our area over southwestern Louisiana with another low pressure area over southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. A southeastward moving cold front extends from Nebraska into southern Colorado and eastern Arizona. As a result of this surface pressure pattern, a southerly surface wind is blowing across our area.

In the upper levels of the atmosphere… a broad trough.. or line.. of upper air low pressure is over the central USA with a southeastward moving low pressure disturbance embedded within this flow over the southern Rockies. As a result of this pressure pattern, the upper air winds over our area of Texas are moderate westerly.

Drier and more stable atmospheric conditions continue across our area even with a return southerly surface wind flow across the area. As the upper air low pressure disturbance over the southern Rockies moves rapidly southeastward, this will push the cold front to our distant northwest across our area around midnight tonight. In the continuing progressive (fast moving) weather pattern, the dry and stable airmass above will not have time to “recover” as far as atmospheric moisture and instability is concerned so a wind shift to the north is about all I expect as far as any real weather along the front.

Surface high pressure.. behind tonight’s cold front..  will move settle southward in the wake of the front with cooler temperatures area wide into the weekend with sunshine being the main feature of our weekend weather.

The high pressure area will move east of our area by late Sunday into Monday with a south southeasterly surface wind returning and clouds increasing a bit into the new week.

Another southeastward moving cold front is seen moving into Texas by next Tuesday into Wednesday with the front passing overhead of the local area late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

My forecast confidence today through the weekend and into the first half of next week is very high. My confidence for the middle and latter part of next week.. especially regarding timing of the mid week cold front and cloud coverage.. is low to medium, at best.

For Austin and south central Texas… tonight will see a clear sky. Lows around 40 with north northwesterly wind. For tomorrow, sunshine will prevail. Highs in the 60s to near 70 with southerly wind.

Have a good Friday night and Saturday…
Meteorologist Troy Kimmel