Tonight:  Periods of showers and thunderstorms with a low of 74.  Winds from the south at 5 mph.

Tuesday:  Cool with periods of showers and thunderstorms and a high of 84.  Winds from the south at 5-10 mph.

Tuesday Night:  Periods of showers and thunderstorms with a low of 73.  Winds from the south at 5 mph. 

Forecast Discussion:  An upper-level disturbance currently centered over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle is working together with a weak, dissipating front draped along the Gulf Coast to produce widespread rainfall across much of Texas today.  The upper-level low will continue to move to the southeast over the next few days, bringing us cooler than normal temperatures (mid to upper 80s), and rainy conditions for at least Tuesday and Wednesday.  These rains will add to the rains we have received the past few weeks that are continuing to help provide relief for the short-term drought much of the Brazos Valley is currently experiencing. Models suggest that the low pressure system will finally move to our east by Wednesday night or Thursday, when our rain chances should decrease and temperatures should increase back into the lower 90s. 

Widespread flooding is probably not a concern for areas in the Brazos Valley because most areas have received less than one quarter of an inch today.  Today’s heavier and more widespread rainfall totals (1-2 inches) were located to our north and south.  However, the potential for flash flooding in low-lying areas experiencing locally heavy rainfall with be fairly high across the Brazos Valley and east Texas through Wednesday night.  Rainfall totals in the Brazos Valley should average around 2 inches in the next 48 hours, with lower totals to our west (~1 inch) and higher totals to our east and northeast (~3-4 inches).  Locally heavy rainfall totals of 6-8 inches over the next 48 hours are likely, particularly in northeast Texas where the heaviest rainfall is expected and a small possibility for more widespread flooding exist.  Nevertheless, the benefits of nice rainfall totals in an otherwise dry summer probably outweighs this risk…..

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Forecasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.