Anyone who was outside this afternoon would swear it was early October rather than mid-November with temperatures soaring a good 10 to 15 degrees above average.  We ended up with a few record highs broken today:  Borger reached 84 breaking their old record high of 81…Amarillo reached 82 breaking their old record of 80…San Angelo reached 85 breaking their old record of 84…and Corpus Christi reached a tied their previous record of 90.  But, all that will change later this week as our first real good shot of colder air arrives late Thursday into Friday.  Between now and then, we still have a bit of heat and some windy conditions to deal with.

Very windy with Critical Fire Danger conditions will exist Wednesday across much of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.  Sustained southwesterly winds up to 30mph with higher gusts will be likely as relative humidity levels drop below 15%.  Skinny folks will likely have to tie down to something.  Red Flag Warnings are in place for the northern tier of counties across the Texas panhandle tomorrow, with a Fire Weather Watch in place for Amarillo and counties to its west.  For Thursday, sustained winds will increase to between 30 and 40mph with higher gusts likely.  Critical Fire Danger conditions will exist across a majority of the panhandle until the front rolls through late Thursday followed by increasing humidity values overnight into Friday which should bring an end to the extreme fire danger.  

Forecast highs on Wednesday will be quite warm for this time of the year…especially across the panhandle and northwest Texas which could see highs jump in excess of 20 degrees above average tomorrow afternoon.  We will see much the same on Thursday before the cold front arrives late Thursday.  Once the front arrives it will move through the state very quickly overnight Thursday into Friday and is expected to breach the coastal zones just after sunset Friday evening.