High pressure building across the eastern half of the state will expand west and will result in most of today’s rainfall remaining west of the I-35 corridor.  A lack of good lift across the western half of the state will keep rain chances rather scattered and focused primarily along a stalled frontal boundary stretched across the panhandle region and the western fringes of the expanding high pressure ridge.  Severe weather is not expected…mainly just general thunder and brief periods of heavy rain under the more robust storms.  Highs will average pretty close to normal for most of the state today, but it will be very humid…unusually humid for this time of the year with dewpoints in the upper 60s and low 70s.  The panhandle region will experience the coolest temps today, about 5-10 degrees below average, thanks to extensive cloud cover and continuous rain chances through tonight.

Jumping ahead to early next week, a strong cold front is still on track to arrive bringing a welcomed relief from the heat and humidity we’ve been dealing with lately.  There’s still some small disagreements on the timing and strength of the front, but current forecast has it entering northern Texas by Monday afternoon or evening and moving off the coast by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.  Obviously the exact timing will be refined as we head into the weekend, but for now it looks like we’ll see some really nice fall-like weather to finish out next week with cool mornings and mild afternoons!

We’re continuing to keep an eye on a tropical disturbance currently located in the southwestern Caribbean.  This disturbance is expected to become a tropical depression by later today and will move into the southern Gulf of Mexico by Saturday…potentially as Tropical Storm Nate.  At this time, it looks like this tropical system will not be impacting the Texas coast and will track east of our state…but we will continue to monitor its progression over the next 5-7 days.