Warm Temperatures For A Few More Days....Hurricane Wilma

From meteorologist Jason Myers......

High pressure continues to dominate weather over Texas along with a ridge. Southerly flow is continuing to bring above normal temperatures to West Central Texas. Highs today will be in the upper 80s with a high temperaure of 88 degrees, which is ten degrees above our normal for this time of the year at 78 degrees. A low pressure system that has been parked over southern California, giving California residents plenty of rain, will be moving northeast. The Big Country will not be seeing any rain for the most part, yet north of Abilene, in Knox, Stonewall, Haskell, or Throckmorton counties....those counties have a slim chance of seeing a shower or thunderstorm late Wednesday due to a passing cold front along with the low pressure system discussed earlier. Another cold front will be working it's way across the Big Country late Thursday bringing the temperatures down for Friday and the weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday look to be gorgeous days with highs in the mid-70s and mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. In fact another cold front moves through Sunday bringing the high temperatures down into the 60s.

Tropical Storm Wilma has now been upgraded to Hurricane Wilma as of the 11am (EDT) update from the National Hurricane Center. This ties the record set back in 1969 for 12 hurricanes in one hurricane season(NHC). Hurricane Wilma is located at latitude 16.5 north and Longitude 80.6 West, or about 195 miles south-southest of Grand Cayman. Winds are sustained at 75 mph (Category 1) with higher gusts....Wilma is moving toward the northwest at 7 mph. Additional strengthening looks to happen over the next 24 hrs, and Hurricane Wilma could become a major hurricane in the next day or two. Minimum central pressure is 977 mb.
Hurricane Wilma will be moving over very warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico with very little wind shear in the upper atmosphere, meaning that strengthening should cause Wilma to become a major hurricane. Right now the official National Hurricane Center path has Hurricane Wilma turning north and then northeast moving over southern Florida. This turn to the north and northeast will likely happen because a high pressure system over the Southern U.S. is forecasted to move off to the east. Hurricane Wilma is definately a storm to keep an eye on. We'll keep you updated with the latest here at KRBC 9.