Weekend Rain?

Hello everybody. The weekend is almost upon us; it is hard to believe how fast time flies. I just finished scanning all of the latest computer models and they are indicating a better chance for scattered tropical showers and thunderstorms over the weekend. 

I have my eye on an area of deep tropical moisture over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico right now that will quickly move east to Texas over the weekend. The higher moisture levels may be just enough, with daytime heating and a sea breeze, to generate some widely scattered heavy downpours over the area this weekend. Especially for areas from Austin to the south and east. I'm putting rain chances at 30% for both Saturday and Sunday in Austin. I'm putting those chances at 40% for areas south and east of Austin and 20% for areas north and west of Austin.

A large ridge of high pressure that is thankfully not parked over Texas is located just north and east of Texas right now. The clockwise flow of high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere will help to steer this batch of moisture over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico into Texas. Another benefit of the high being parked north and east of Texas is that air will be able to rise. Remember, you need rising air to promote shower and thunderstorm development. High pressure causes air to sink.

Unfortunately, this is not going to be a big rainfall event. Nevertheless, some lucky folks may pick up as much as an inch of rain under a heavy downpour while others may not even see a drop.

This is a look at forecasted moisture levels across Texas over the weekend. You can see that area of red across central and south Texas. That represents the higher moisture content.