SE TX/SW LA weather: Much cooler and WET after Tuesday

[southerngale]

Unbelievable. The Bear Creek Dome has done it again. The rain fizzled in West Harris County, split up with half going north and half going south of us. I'm off to turn on the blasted sprinklers again since I put out fertilizer in anticipation of rain. Lucy nailed me with the football.

Isn't there supposed to be a line of storms forming as the front comes through later? Or was that it? lol

Yes, the main show is yet to come.

Are you sure about that? NWS still shows 70% chance of heavy rain/thunderstorms for late this afternoon with only a 20% for tonight, but all of the activity on radar is south of here. There was some rain headed in this general direction from the NW, but that is falling apart, instead of strengthening. Also, at only 4pm, the temp is down to 71F after a high of 77F (with the sun out).

I think it's over.


Edit: nm... I see you posted a minute before me. Btw, it sprinkled here for maybe a couple of minutes. It only took a few more minutes for the wet spots on the sidewalk to dry up. lol

[Extremeweatherguy]

Temperatures are starting to fall off quickly this afternoon. As of 5pm temperatures have fallen to 65F at Hooks in Tomball, 71F at IAH, and 68.7F on my thermometer here in Spring. Dewpoints have also fallen into the lower to middle 50s, and a nice, cool breeze is blowing in from the north.

[Yankeegirl]

Well I guess that 80% chance of rain just was in-case... We didnt get a drop here today... Oh well, it was a nice day!!

[jasons2k]

Running the sprinklers. It feels great outside, looks like a gorgeous few days ahead.

[jasons2k]

It can't get much nicer than it is today, that's for sure!!

[jasons2k]

A little writeup from Jeff Lindner on this last gasp of winter:

It really does not much better than this in late April.

Strong cold front passed through the region yesterday with thunderstorms mainly along the coast and offshore. Air mass was still in recovery mode from Saturday AM event which dropped 1.0-1.50 inches over Fort Bend and Brazoria counties southwestward….models got that one wrong…but then again it is all in the very small fine details of the infamous meso scale which will bust regional and global models time and time again.

Air mass is very dry with surface dewpoints running in the upper 30’s and afternoon temps in the mid 70’s. Gulf moisture and humidity have been scoured out of the area and large cool high will be slow to move east keeping the Gulf shut down for business for much of this week. Low dewpoints and dry air mass will result in good cooling conditions tonight after the strong April sun sets. Although days are getting long…low dewpoints and calm winds support near record/record lows at most locations Tuesday morning in the 40’s.

Winds slowly turn around to the SE by Wednesday, but Gulf air mass has been scoured and it will take some time to return the sticky air mass of last week into the region. Approaching trough/front combo toward the end of the week should induce enough pressure falls at the surface to crank up the SE winds and get the low level jet going so that 60 degree dewpoints return by Friday. Front looks awful weak as the main energy shifts toward the Great Lakes…rain chances look fairly low on Friday and the front should wash out over the area on Saturday. Given the dry pattern of the past three months…will tend to lean toward the drier side of guidance….not to mention the downstream Gulf air mass will take some time to recover after the Sunday cold air intrusion. Enjoy as we may not see lows in the 40’s again until October at the earliest.

[Extremeweatherguy]

My forecast low for tonight = 43F

[KatDaddy]

It does not get any better than this for SE TX. The lows from the weatherstation say it all.

Humidity

Low Humidity of 19 % occured at 4:45p
High Humidity of 73 % occured at 1:18a


Dewpoint

Low Dewpoint of 31.0 °F occured at 5:28p
High Depoint of 51.0 °F occured at 12:00a

[Extremeweatherguy]

IAH officially hit 46F this morning, breaking the old record of 51F set in 1996.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Looks like HOU area misses rain next front Friday per WRF model. Looking at forecast soundings at the AccuWx PPV site, the cap will be strong, and the front passes dry. GFS has a weaker cap, and model does generate some rain.





I hope the GFS is correct. I think a dry summer I-10 and Southward is setting up in Texas. Even the GFS only shows two tenths Friday with the front.


Some hope that the model may lolligag around this weekend and generate some rain as next system approaches early next week. But it is just a hope at this point.

[jasons2k]

3rd spring in Houston --

3rd year in a row with a cap most of the spring storm season --

[jasons2k]

Welcome Summer of 2008!!

The cool snap did virtually nothing to my pool temps. Kinda hard to do much when we shot right back up to 81 degrees! We're home free now until October! Yeah!!

It won't be long now until we're talking about seabreeze storms and tropical funnels. I just love summer!!

[Extremeweatherguy]

It looks like we have another nice day coming up this Saturday...

Saturday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 80.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56.

[Extremeweatherguy]

This weekend's forecast continues to look quite nice...

Saturday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 81.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56.

[Ed Mahmoud]

New WRF, and 18Z GFS, continue to suggest Northern parts of Houston metro see some rain Friday afternoon/evening with front, but HOU itself and points South continue to stay very dry.



We'll be talking about the dry spell soon, and with what I expect to be a slow tropical season these parts, maybe even a drought in the Autumn.

[jasons2k]

It is getting dry, hopefully we will have an active seabreeze front during the summer months. If we have a "death ridge" parked over Texas, we could be in trouble. I'm already running the sprinklers a lot more than I care to. At least water is still dirt cheap where I live...

[CajunMama]

Our yearly watering restrictions went into place today. Every May 1 through September 30. My yards starting to get dry. I'll hold out as long as i can.

[jasons2k]

NWS says next week we will have "late May" temperatures - they are showing us up to 88 by Wednesday. I sure hope we get some rain or we may be in for one very hot summer.

[jasons2k]

Look at a good hi-res visible shot of SE TExas. You can see the prefrontal trough getting to the coast and the front to the north.

Two things really interest me -
1) The clearing behing the trough and ahead of the front
2) It looks like the LLJ - with a tongue of moisture is coming ashore, centered at Lake Charles. You can see it slowly spreading north and starting to run over the top of the trough to the NW. Maybe this is what will bust throught the cap? I'll be watching this closely. The question for Houston may be what gets here first for it to storm.

[Extremeweatherguy]

That clearing area has my attention too. I am starting to see some sunshine here in northern Harris county and the temperature is quickly rising through the 80s in response.