Arctic Chill, Arctic Weather, Let's Bundle Up....

We are in a for an interesting ride here in the Brazos Valley. In fact, most of Texas is in for a potpourri of weather, including wintry precipitation. It will first begin with a cold front that will plow away all of this warm air and kick it way out. In its place, a surge of MUCH COLDER air which will move in for the long haul.

As of Thursday afternoon, the front has already passed through most of Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle. Notice the contrast in temperatures between the below freezing air in Amarillo with the heat in San Antonio. This cold front will literally flatten our warmth, quickly.

At the moment, the front should arrive around 3am Friday morning, where the temperatures remain in the 70s, but following the passage of this Blue Norther, we will already cool down into the 40s by 7am Friday. Additionally, there will be several showers and thunderstorms as the front passes. Furthermore, the wind will turn around from the north and gust 30-35mph at times through the day on Friday. Therefore, its going to feel more like the 30s for most of the day when you factor in the wind.

FYI: This will not be a short lived cold spell, it will remain cold for the weekend and most of next week too.

Clouds and showers will hang around on Friday and into the weekend as well. Where temperatures are cold enough, pockets of Freezing Rain and sleet, along with several snow showers will develop in Hill Country and west Texas.

Then another dose of energy will take aim at us by the second half of the weekend.

An upper level low slowly moving eastbound, will hook up with the cold air in place and help to produce snowfall for mainly areas in the panhandle and west Texas for the first time this season. Snow could pile up over 10 inches in a few isolated areas.

What we need to keep our eyes on is how cold it will be as this upper level storm moves over the Brazos Valley. By late Monday, this energy will help to spawn a surface storm along the Texas gulf coast.

Areas of green and blue illustrate where precipitation will be falling. However, with temperatures forecasted to be in the 30s here, it could get a little interesting late Monday and Tuesday morning.

Right now, the air should be just warm enough that any precipitation that falls will all be in the form of rain. Yet, this can change and we will keep you in the loop. If the air does in fact get colder than the forecast above, a period of sleet or freezing rain could occur, mainly in our northern counties (Milam, Robertson, Leon).

Overall, make sure to have your winter coat handy, and an umbrella too. Its going to be a cold, cloudy, and dreary next few days.

"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.
 

Extreme Cold By The Weekend

Quite and interesting weekend here across the entire Brazos Valley. We have been so used to the cooler and drier air as of late, that the weather this weekend seemed like a big surprise. According to the climate report from Easterwood Airport in College Station, the official high for Sunday was recorded as 84°, just shy of the daily record of 85° set back in 1921. Besides the heat, it was HUMID....yuk!!!  Since, a cold front came by Monday afternoon, which will spill in cooler and drier air.

Overall, it looks like this week should be fairly quiet. Clouds will come back towards the end of the week, as well as additional warmth and moisture. Plus, several showers will be around from time to time on Wednesday and Thursday.

THEN COMES THE BIG SHOW!!!!!!

A pool of Arctic air, building in the northern reaches of Canada will move down into the United States and unleash its fury.

By Friday, a strong cold front will move across the state of Texas cropping up rain and a few thunderstorms on the front side, where the back side of the front will have much COLDER AIR.

Notice in the following diagram that there is a body of high pressure ("H") over southern Saskatchewan, Canada, with a forecasted pressure near 1053 millibars.

This is the GFS's (Global Forecast Systems) simulation of the weather for midnight Saturday. When you add in very cold Canadian air and the potential of a very strong high pressure center to deliver this cold air, this tell me a couple of things.

1) The cold air can move this far south.
2) Yes, the temperatures will moderate, but will still hold its core.

In other words, this weekends weather will make you shiver.

Furthermore, look at the temperature anomalies compared to average with this arctic outbreak.

We are looking at temperatures that will probably be around 10°-13°C (18°-24°F) below the climatological average for this time of the year. Therefore, high temperatures may only approach the middle 40s, with overnight lows in the 30s. Yeah....it cold be that cold around here. But here is the twist.

Typically in our part of Texas, a cold air mass will swing in for a day or two, then the temperatures climb pretty quickly, but this is not the case for this event coming up. Its seems like the cold air could stick around for a longer period of time. Maybe 4-5 days, if not longer, beginning on Saturday.

On top of all of this cold news, snow could fly in parts of the panhandle and west Texas as well for the first time this season.

The forecast can change, but use this information as a heads up that a big change is headed our way this weekend.

"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.

Hot Weekend Coming Up!

November in Texas is like a seesaw, temperatures go up, and then they go down....then they go up again. This typically happens during the Autumn season as the cold air is building to our north, and the heat from the summer slowly drifts away. However, this past week was a ride.

We began the week, literally freezing, but now the air has moderated to pleasant levels. Yet, a strong south wind is developing and going to help increase the humidity, and really elevate the temperatures. In fact, we might get close to a record high temperature on Sunday.

During this time, several areas of disturbed weather will rotate in, generating a few light showers from time to time. Any rain will not washout any plans, but could wet the garden just a bit. Furthermore, this south wind that develops, will have gusts that will be on the order of 25-30mph at times both Saturday and Sunday.  Plus, dew point levels will touch 70°....yeah it will be humid too.

No need to worry, because a cold front will come into the Brazos Valley by Monday, taking temperatures back closer to seasonal averages.

Note: Long term models are indicating that there could be another blast of very cold air beginning next weekend (November 23-24)

"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.

Great Weekend Ahead......Then A Polar Plunge

It was a wonderful way to end the work week, a textbook Autumn day. Cool and crisp air, along with a milky white glaze in the sky, courtesy of high level clouds. These clouds will remain with us for the first half of the weekend, and even though it might look like its going to rain, the atmosphere is fairly dry, that any falling precipitation should dry up before it comes in contact with the ground.

Overall, tailgating for Saturday's final home game at Kyle Field should be great. It is upsetting to see the Aggies take Kyle Field for the final time in its current state before construction begins following the match against Mississippi State. However, by 2015, Kyle Field will be filled with even more fans that will make it even louder.

Clouds will begin to thin out Saturday night and give way to some sunshine for the second half of the weekend and Veterans Day too.

By the middle of next week, a huge swing in the temperatures are in the offing.

Very cold air building in Canada is poised to move into our direction. In fact, most areas east of the Rockies will feel some of the coldest air of the season.

Due to a highly amplified trough in the upper levels, all of this cold air will freely move south. At the moment, a cold front will pass through the Brazos Valley early Tuesday morning, kicking up a strong north wind and taking any mild air away.

Additionally, as high pressure crests over the southern Plains on Tuesday and Wednesday night, temperatures should fall into the 30s! This means we need to be on garden alert because there could be several areas near freezing temperatures. Our first frost or freeze could be coming soon. Stay tuned, and I will keep you in the loop.


"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.

Super Typhoon Haiyan.....Could Be Strongest Ever!

 

You don't have to be a meteorologist to know that the above image illustrates a very strong storm that will cause catastrophic devastation. Super Typhoon Haiyan, shown above could go down as the strongest and most destructive tropical cyclone on record. It's cloud mass covers over 2/3 of the entire country of the Philippines, winds are sustained around 195mph (equivalent to an EF-4 tornado), with gusts of 235mph (equivalent to an EF-5 tornado) at its core. Haiyan's movement is due west at a quick clip which would lead to a small window of time to weaken. Additionally, the latest report noted, based on satellite feeds, that the center of Haiyan had a minimal central pressure of 858mb (http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/2013/tdata/wpac/31W.html), which would put this storm as the strongest on record.

At the moment, Haiyan could weaken before landfall with sustained winds of 150mph, however, this storm is moving so fast, that the communities in the path of Haiyan may still experience its full extreme impact.

To view Haiyans final visible image in motion click here.

Besides Haiyan, the other famous storm to make headlines in the western Pacific was Super Typhoon Tip, back in 1979.

At it's peak, Tip had a minimal central pressure of 870mb (which is the lowest official reading on record, before Haiyan could move into the top spot), winds sustained at 190mph, with a width of 1,380miles. Eventually, Tip made landfall over the southern regions of Japan.

Closer the the United States, don't forget about Hurricane Camille in 1969. This storm made landfall along the Gulf coast with sustained winds of 190mph.

Extreme weather happens all the time, but Haiyan may top the charts as the strongest storm on record.

"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.