Beneficial Rain & Cold Weather Returns

Good evening everybody! I would like to start off this blog by taking a look at the wonderful rainfall totals from across central Texas...everybody in central Texas saw at least 1.50 inches of rain...a few locations came close to 4 inches. Most here in Austin received anywhere from 2-3 inches of rainfall. Over the past 48 hours, we have officially received 2.49 inches of rainfall at Austin's Camp Mabry! 

Here's a look at rainfall totals from across central Texas using the LCRA Hydromet:

Sunny skies look to return to central Texas on Thursday as drier air moves in on the back side of the massive upper level low pressure system that brought us all of the wonderful rain. Temps will climb into the 60s across a good portion of central Texas tomorrow after waking up to temperatures in the 40s. Southwesterly surface winds will help temperatures climb. Temps will rebound into the upper 60s to lower 70s across the area on Friday. Temps will approach 70°F on Saturday, however, increasing clouds and a chance for late day thundershowers may hold temps a bit cooler than Friday. 

That next shot at rain comes with our next approaching weather disturbance and its associated Arctic Cold Front. The Arctic Air will begin pushing into Central Texas on Saturday Night...as the leading edge of the colder air meets up with the warmer and more moist air over central Texas, scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop. This is NOT going to be a repeat of the rain we have seen over the past couple of days. The best shot at rain on Saturday will be for areas along and east of the Interstate 35 corridor. Chance of rain is 50% on Saturday evening.

High Resolution Forecast Radar (Saturday Evening):

 Temperatures on Sunday will not get out of the 40s all day long with a breezy northerly wind and a cloudy sky making it feel even colder. There is a good chance for light rain on Sunday behind the front. Temperatures will drop into the mid 30s Sunday night. 

Check out the sharp temperature difference across the state on Sunday:

Highs on Monday will have a difficult time warming up...I am going to be optimistic and say we will make it to 45°F for a high, however, I believe much of the day will be spent in the upper 30s to lower 40s under a cloudy, and at times, showery sky.

Highs will stay in the 40s through Wednesday with overnight lows in the 30s. Highs may make it back into the lower 50s for Thursday and Friday. It does not look like we are going to see much in the way of freezing temperatures thanks to the extensive cloud cover, however, if the air mass turns out to be colder than what models are forecasting, the risk of freezing temperatures would be likely.

This is what the GFS Model believes temperatures will look like over the next two weeks for Austin: The model is keeping things quite chilly.

This is a look at my latest seven day forecast: