Good morning and happy Saturday!  We won’t see as many 100 degree readings today as we’ve seen the past several weeks, but it will still remain quite warm and mostly dry across the state.  Showers and storms are expected to develop once again this afternoon, mainly across the western and southwestern parts of the state as we get into daytime heating.  Scattered showers are also expected to develop along the coast in southeast Texas as low pressure begins to build into the region. We still have a few lingering showers along and west of I-35 this morning between Austin and San Antonio.  Those will hang around for a few more hours then redevelop later mainly west of I-35 later this afternoon.  Overall rain coverage will be isolated to scattered with no widespread severe weather expected; however, a few of the stronger cells could produce gusty downburst winds and plenty of lightning, so just take that into consideration as you plan outdoor activities this afternoon.

As our pesky ridge of high pressure continues to move west and over Arizona, we’ll continue to see a bit of a cooling trend…not that much cooler…but back to more seasonable highs for this time of the year with not as many 100 degree readings showing up in the afternoons.

Lows tonight, seasonably mild with some pleasant readings in the 60s across the panhandle and 70s elsewhere.

Next week…we have a pattern change ahead as an unusually strong low pressure system develops and tracks across the central plains and drops a “cool” front down into northern Texas by the middle of next week.  We could see several days of strong storms beginning in the panhandle Tuesday and pushing into northern Texas Wednesday.  Still too soon to forecast rainfall amounts or storm coverage, but it’s a pattern we’ll be watching closely over the next several days, so be on the lookout for updates as we get into the next work week.