Early Week Splash, Late Week Fun In The Sun

For the middle of May in this part of the country that can get very humid and hot this time of year, Mother's Day Weekend was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Temperatures remained in the low 80's, humidity was very low and despite some clouds around, there was a whole lot of sun.

Since, the sun has faded behind cloud cover early this week as we introduce a few showers tonight and tomorrow. As of this afternoon, there have been some areas, especially to our north and west that have seen some splash n' dash showers.

Several of the cells are dropping heavy rain along I-35, with some very light showers here. None of these storms are severe, but there are some severe storms this afternoon in West Texas, especially around Big Bend.

Just like last week, this activity is driven by energy in the upper levels of the atmosphere. There are no cold fronts or warm fronts involved here, just pure spin and lift from the upper levels. In the following image, you can see where the most intense forcing is at the 500 millibar level (or 18,000 feet above the surface).

Note the yellow area with an X in West Texas. This shows you where the upper level energy is. Ahead of this area is where you get the best lift and dynamics to generate thunderstorms. Where ever this moves dictates who has the best chance for seeing wet weather tonight and tomorrow. Most of the computer models I looked at today show this energy moving to the south and southeast.

Therefore, locations such as San Antonio, Laredo, and McAllen have the best chance to experience wet weather. However, I cannot rule out the Brazos Valley from seeing a few storms tomorrow due to the proximity of this energy. Nonetheless, tomorrow will be a cloudy day and temperatures will be hard pressed to get out of the 70s.

Overall, expect the sky to remain cloudy tonight and most of tomorrow. Several light showers will be around tonight, but not everyone will have wet weather. By tomorrow, as this upper level energy comes a bit closer, a few thunderstorms will pop up in the afternoon. None should be severe, but they can produce some heavy rainfall in localized areas. Keep the umbrella handy for now and tomorrow. The end of the week will be much drier with a TON of SUN.

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