Monday Afternoon Discussion

From Chief Meteorologist Craig Carnesi...

Believe it or not, we may see some shower activity across the Big Country Friday night and Saturday. More on that in a minute.

First though, how about that cold front that blew in last night? I've heard from some folks who had their lawn furniture overturned and saw an impressive dust cloud roll in with the front. Wind speeds were sustained from the North at 33 mph gusting up to 48 mph at Abilene Regional Airport at 8pm last night. Unfortunately, that dust is all we saw fall from the sky with this frontal passage.

We will feel the effects of another cold front late Wednesday. This front will cool us off even more. What's happening is that Arctic air is slowly filtering into the U.S. As it does, it moderates less and less with each frontal passage. Wednesday night's front will knock afternoon highs down into the middle to upper 50s from Thursday. (Climatologically where they should be!)

Then Friday something strange happens, something that should happen more than it does, moisture should begin to return to the area. First in middle levels of the atmosphere in the form of clouds, then at the surface with higher dewpoints and relative humidity values. This all in advance of another cold front due to arrive Friday night.

As that front arrives, we will begin to carry a slight to 20% chance of scattered showers across the area. Rain chances will come to an end Saturday as high pressure builds into the area. But hey, at least we'll have a chance for showers for about a 24 hour period.