High pressure and temperatures well above normal for this point in February will dominate the forecast for the next couple of days across the state.  The most pressing issue we’ll be dealing with is the danger for wildfire development across the panhandle and parts of far western Texas for Wednesday…and especially on Thursday with the forecast calling for wind speeds in the 30-40mph range, gusts as high as 50mph, very low humidity levels, blowing dust and flaming tumbleweeds.  Just kidding on the flaming tumbleweeds, but explosive fire growth will certainly be a possibility for anything that manages to ignite.  As a reminder, many counties in the Texas panhandle region have burn bans in effect right now…but some do not for whatever reason.  Regardless, please refrain from any outdoor burning Wednesday and Thursday, and properly dispose of cigarette butts as well.

In addition to the wildfire threats, we’ll be dealing with near record to record breaking heat once again tomorrow with widespread readings in the upper 70s to mid 80s expected by tomorrow afternoon.  Normal for this time of the year should be in the 50s and 60s across the panhandle and northern Texas, with mid 60s to low 70s further south along the coast and across south Texas.  Instead, we’ll be seeing highs across the northern half of the state a good 20 to 25 degrees above normal, and 10 to 15 degrees above normal across the southern half of the state.  So I guess we just need to break out the t-shirts and flip flops and make the best of it!

Rain chances are slim to none for the next 5 to 7 days as well.  The next meaningful rainfall we’ll likely see will not come until towards the middle of next week..and even that looks to be mainly for folks across east and northeast Texas.  This is certainly discouraging for the rest of the state as we do need at least some steady rainfall during this time of the year to help stave off the chances of drought during the summer months.