Friday Night Update

From Chief Meteorologist Brandon Rector...

It was another day of above average temperatures as everyone in the Big Country was at or above 100. For the second straight day at Abilene Regional Aiport we tied a record high. This afternoon we reached 104. A few isolated showers and thunderstorms developed in Haskell and Throckmorton counties.

Tomorrow looks to be another hot day with highs in the upper 90s to a little over 100 thanks to that upper level high pressure ridge that will still be in control. There is a slight chance that we could see a few isolated showers and storms in the afternoon.

Changes should begin on Sunday as a cold front approaches the area. This will increase our chance of rain to 30%. Since the front probably won't arrive until late in the day, highs look to make it into the mid to upper 90s.

That cold front should move through the viewing area on Monday and stall just to our south through the middle of the week. Our best chance of rain looks to be on Monday at 40%. We will gradually decrease rain chances through the rest of the work week. With quite a bit of cloud cover around as well as rain and some cooler air, highs are expected to be in the upper 80s to low 90s for the first half of next week.

Looking at the tropics, Tropical Storm Debby is expected to stay out in the Atlantic Ocean and not affect the U.S. mainland. Tropical Depression 5 has strengthened and become Tropical Storm Ernesto. The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center has it located about 600 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. There are tropical storm watches in effect for Jamaica and parts of Haiti. Maximum sustained winds are 40 mph with some strengthening possible over the next couple of days. The latest path projection has it in the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday so this is a storm that we will have to keep an eye on.

Have a super Saturday!