5:00 p.m. Discussion

From Chief Meteorologist Craig Carnesi...

We set a new record high today at Abilene Regional Airport. The old record was 74 set in 1988 and tied in 2003. Our high today topped out at 80.

The reason for all of this warmth is the very dry air in place and the abundant sunshine. One other factor is the Southwest wind. Winds will come around to the West Tuesday, and really pick up in strength.

Winds Tuesday will run anywhere from 20 to 35 miles per hour sustained. Wind gusts will possibly be as strong as 50 miles per hour.

The winds will pick up because of a tightening pressure gradient across the area as a surface low pressure system forms to our North. With high pressure to our South and East, we will be smack in the middle of both of these systems.

As the system to our North passes by, a cold front will swing through Tuesday night, bringing afternoon high temperatures back down into the middle 60s for a day. By Thursday afternoon hgihs will be back into the lower 70s.

Another cold front, this one a little stronger will pass Thursday night.

It looks like we will finish 2005 on a dry note. That means we will wrap up the year just about 4 inches below our average annual rainfall.