While upper-level high pressure remains in control of South Texas weather today and Saturday, a shift to a more fall-like pattern will mean improving rain chances during the upcoming week. Meantime, expect continued above normal temperatures with highs in the upper 90s and heat index values near or above 110 degrees through the first of next week. Overnights will drop into the middle 70s.
A pattern shift early in the coming week will push the upper ridge into the Eastern North Pacific and allow a series of upper-level disturbances to glide across the Southern Plains. That will bring increasing rain chances, more cloud cover and even more seasonable daytime temperatures. Model indications are for rainfall totals of a half inch to near an inch by the end of the work week, with highs dropping into the lower 90s by Thursday and Friday.
In the tropics, Hurricane Lee is an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm well northeast of the Lesser Antilles with sustained winds of more than 165 miles an hour. It will continue to churn west northwest through open waters for the next several days, and its ultimate destination and impact are to be determined. Tropical Storm Margot will remain in the open waters of the East Central Atlantic. Hurricane Jova in the Eastern Pacific will remain in open waters and continue to weaken as it traverses colder sea surface temperatures. There remains no tropical threat to the Coastal Bend.
