Tuesday Afternoon Update

Forecast Discussion:

Showers and thunderstorms moved through central Texas early this morning with relatively little fanfare. This morning’s storms have left behind 0.50 to 1.00 inch of rain across the Austin Metro Area, with lesser totals to our west and higher totals to our east. The heaviest rains by far this morning fell east of the I-35 corridor in Bastrop, Lee, and Fayette Counties. An LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) Rain Gauge northeast of Muldoon, TX is reporting 3.61 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. Bastrop County as a whole averaged between 1 to 1.50 inches of rain.

>>>Yesterday’s Tornado Outbreak<<<

*As the storms blew through the central Plains yesterday…several of the storms became severe with hail, high winds, and tornadoes…over 40 reports of tornadoes coming in yesterday from the Storm Prediction Center (see the map below…blue dots = reported strong winds, red dots = reported tornadoes, green dots = reported large hail)

Roger Hill, avid storm chaser and storm photographer captured this stunning picture of a tornado that developed between Groom, TX and Pampa, TX yesterday evening...it is going to be interesting to see what these tornadoes are going to be ranked on the EF-Scale...there was a report of a mile-wide tornado just southeast of Pampa, TX yesterday that caused some significant damage. Image below is courtesy of Roger Hill.

>>>Where are the storms currently? (as of noon Tuesday)<<<

The squall line (a.k.a. line of showers and storms) is now well east of the area and is currently working its way through east and southeast Texas where a TORNADO WATCH is currently in effect until 4 p.m. CST…this watch includes far east Texas, central and western Louisiana and extreme southwestern portions of Arkansas (see map below…counties within the bold red lines are under the tornado watch)…storms have slowed down somewhat as they pushed east of us…a slower forward movement will mean heavier rainfall totals for folks east of us.

>>>The upper level low pressure system responsible for all of this weather is currently pin wheeling over the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles…this system will continue to push east through the day…as it does so, clouds will slowly be decreasing from west to east across the area…the far western Hill Country is already seeing some nice sun breaks<<<

>>>A few additional showers possible through the early afternoon hours...in fact, a handful of showers have popped up across Burnet and Blanco Counties right now...activity is moving southwest to north-northeast<<<

>>>Visible Satellite Imagery across Texas as of 11:45 a.m. CST Tuesday...clouds are slowly beginning to break up across the western Hill Country...that trend will continue across the remainder of the area through evening...clouds may be a bit stubborn though<<<

>>>Temperatures holding in the upper 50s to lower 60s across the area…highs should manage to rebound into the upper 60s to near, if not slightly above 70°F in a few locations (especially those areas that see more sunshine)<<<

>>>As clouds decrease across the area, breezy/gusty westerly winds will be pushing into the area as well, those westerly winds will effectively push very dry air into the area and set us up for a mostly clear and chilly night tonight<<<

>>>Lows dip into the 40s area wide tonight with some low-lying, out-lying locations possibly dipping into the mid to upper 30s (especially north and west of the Austin Metro Area) <<<

>>>Beautiful fall weather settles into the area tomorrow through Friday ahead of a cold front that looks to move across the area Saturday morning…this front has the potential to bring us the chilliest air of the fall season thus far and perhaps a few scattered light rain showers…I will be watching that over the coming days<<<

>>>Rest of the Week<<<

In one word>>>BEAUTIFUL! Mostly sunny/clear with highs in the 70s Wed. and Thurs. with overnight lows generally in the 40s…slightly cooler conditions possible Friday with a slight wind shift…then much chiller air moves in for the weekend!

Hope each of you has a wonderful rest of the week and are able to enjoy the nice weather heading our way.