Some of the chilliest temperatures so far this autumn occurred early Friday morning under a clear sky with light winds. According to LCRA's Hydromet, minimum temperatures included the upper 30s to low 40s across the Hill Country, the low and middle 40s across Central Texas and upper 40s across the middle Texas coast. LCRA's lowest gauged temperature was 34 degrees at a couple of spots in the Hill Country located in northwestern Kimble County and eastern Schleicher County. In Austin, the low temperature at Camp Mabry was 46 degrees while at Austin-Bergstrom, the low temperature was 40 degrees.
Friday morning's weather maps showed a stable ridge of high pressure covering the south central US. At the surface, a large dome of Canadian high pressure covered the south central US. This high pressure system brought with it cooler and much dry air. The high is predicted to remain over the region this afternoon, then slowly move off to the east on Saturday. A light westerly wind is forecast this afternoon, with the wind becoming southerly by tonight. Wind speeds will increase to a range of 10-15 mph on Saturday. A clear sky is currently observed across the region and these clear conditions should persist through late Friday night. The sky will be mostly sky Saturday. This afternoon's temperature will generally warm to the low and middle 70s. Lows Saturday morning will be near 48-50 degrees across the Hill Country and in the low 50s at most other locations. High temperatures Saturday will be in the mid-70s.
Forecasters are keeping an eye on a trough of low pressure located over the northwestern US that is quickly diving to the southeast. The trough is forecast to reach the Texas Panhandle Saturday evening, with the system turning east-northeast across Oklahoma late Saturday night into Sunday. The advancing trough will help push a Pacific cold front across Texas beginning Saturday night. The front is forecast to reach the northern Hill Country late Saturday evening, the Austin area after midnight and the coastal plains region around sunrise Sunday morning. Only a limited amount of Gulf moisture is expected to return to areas west of Interstate 35 ahead of the front. As a result, there will be just a slight chance for the development of rain showers and isolated thunderstorms across the Hill Country beginning late Saturday evening, continuing through Sunday morning. Across the Central Texas region, there will be a 40-50 percent chance for rain showers and thunderstorms between midnight Saturday night and about midday Sunday. Across the coastal plains region, there will be a 40-50 percent chance for rain showers and thunderstorms between late Saturday night and late afternoon Sunday. Although a few scattered thunderstorms are forecast, the activity is not expected to become severe.
Rain amounts through Sunday afternoon are predicted to average less than a tenth of an inch across the Hill Country, be around a quarter inch across Central Texas and between 0.25 and 0.50 inches across the coastal plains region. The rain should taper off from west to east Sunday morning through Sunday afternoon as the cold front pushes east into the Gulf of Mexico. The sky will become partly cloudy Sunday afternoon with the temperature warming to around 68-70 degrees. Low temperatures Monday morning will range from the upper 40s across the Hill Country to the upper 50s near the coast.
Monday's weather is shaping up to be partly cloudy and mild. The temperature is forecast to warm to around 78-80 degrees. A Canadian cold front is forecast to sweep southeast across the region late Monday night into Tuesday morning, bringing cooler air for the remainder of the week. There will be a slight chance for a few rain showers across the coastal plains region Tuesday morning with the cold front. For most other locations, meager moisture levels limit the development of rain development. A mostly sunny sky is forecast Tuesday through Wednesday. High temperatures both days will be around 70-72 degrees with low temperatures ranging from 48-52 degrees out west to around 58 degrees towards the coast.
Forecast solutions call for another Canadian cold front to sweep south across the region next Thursday, bringing a reinforcing blast of cooler air for late week into next weekend. High temperatures will fall back to the upper 60s, with lows in the upper 40s to low 50s. A chance for scattered rain showers will develop next Thursday and continue into next weekend as a series of low pressure troughs take shape over the Desert Southwest and move east, causing an overrunning pattern. Forecasts indicate rain amounts late week into next weekend won't be all that heavy, with totals averaging around a half to three quarters of an inch. There are no indications for unusually warm or unusually cool temperatures across our region over the next two week period.
Tropical Weather UpdateWeather conditions across the tropical Atlantic are currently quiet, with no organized systems in place. Tropical cyclone development is not expected for at least the next 5 days.
Conditions are fairly active across the tropical eastern Pacific where there are three separate low pressure systems to the south and west of Mexico producing clouds and showers. The easternmost system, located about 600 miles south of Baja, California is becoming better organized and has a good chance of becoming a tropical depression by tonight. The system is moving north-northeast towards the southwestern Mexican coast. We will need to monitor the progress of this system over the next several days as some of the moisture associated with the system could get pulled north towards Texas.
RAMMB-CIRA 11/02/2018 12:15 pm CDTTime Change WeekendDont Forget; Daylight Saving Time will come to an end this weekend. We will officially return to Central Standard Time Sunday morning, November 4th, at 2 am. Remember to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night. Sunday's time change means sunrise and sunset will be one hour earlier on Nov. 4 than it was the day before, meaning there will be more daylight in the morning hours and less daylight in the evening.
Early November PlanetsIn early November, the planets Mercury and Jupiter might be possible to spot low in the western sky in the glow of evening twilight. Mars will be easy to catch in the southern sky while fainter Saturn is moderately easy to spot in the southeast sky. Venus, the brightest planet, is now back in the eastern sky before sunrise. Each day throughout November, this blazing beauty of a planet will rise sooner before sunrise and will brighten all the while. Although Venus will be a fixture of the morning sky until mid-August 2019, it'll shine at its brightest in late November and early December 2018.
Have a good weekend.
Bob
