Huge Storm Early Next Week

Feast or famine is the name of the game in the Brazos Valley. Its great to see improvement on the drought, but when we do, we experience major storms that create severe weather and massive flooding. This next storm is no different. Remember, we are several days away from our next event, so things can change from now and into early next week.....

Here is the set up. Our next weather maker remains in the Pacific Ocean, but its beginning to make a move inland to the Pacific Northwest.

What you are seeing in this image is called the "water vapor imagery." This is an image that is taken from satellites thousands of miles above the Earth's surface. The water vapor is only a depiction of the moisture content in the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere, not the surface. We use this to look at jet stream patterns, and even low pressure cells in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Right along the coastline of British Columbia, Canada is our upper low that is the main engine to the rain train that will eventually come here to the Brazos Valley.

Additionally, notice the dip in the jet stream, just off the coast of California. This is a sing of things to come, because this lets me know that this trough will continue to deepen and intensify the overall storm. Overall, the storm is a slow mover, but it will really pack a punch with a ton of rain and even dumping several feet of snow to the Rockie Mountains.

Lets move into the end of the weekend and Monday to give you a computer model on the intensification of the jet stream and its overall orientation.....

The grey area is the jet stream, or pocket of fastest winds about 35,000 feet above the surface. Note how there is a major trough that extends from the central Rockies to the Plains. Furthermore, the Brazos Valley is on the eastern edge of this pocket of intense winds. Because of this, there will be several thunderstorms that crop up on Monday and Tuesday that will have the ability to strengthen rapidly and even rotate due to the swift winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Therefore, severe weather will be a good possibility for Texas and Oklahoma.

That's only one side of the story. Due to the deep digging of the trough, we will be able to grab a rich feed of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and even from the Pacific Ocean. Any storms that form will have the ability to send down very heavy rainfall, heightening our flood threat.

As of right now, the computer models are indicating several inches of rain falling all across the Southern Plains early next week.

This is just an early computer model and this bulls eye can shift, but this can give you a feel that a stormy period will set up here.

At the moment, it looks like from Monday evening though Tuesday we will have strong thunderstorms, some of which will be severe. The overall system will move out on Wednesday clearing us out and beginning another tranquil set up for the remainder of the week.

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