PARTY CLOUDY AND HOT THROUGH FRIDAY WITH A CHANCE OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS

TROPICAL STORM FORMS IN BAY OF CAMPECHE-NO THREAT TO GALVESTON

Partly cloudy and hot this afternoon with a 20% chance of scattered showers or thunderstorms, especially over inland areas. High temperatures will be in the low-90's. Expect southerly winds at 10-15 mph. It will be partly cloudy and mild tonight with a 20% chance of isolated thundershowers this evening. Overnight lows will be in the upper-70's. Winds will be from the south at 10-15 mph. Thursday should bring partly cloudy skies and hot weather with a 20% chance of isolated thundershowers, mostly over inland areas. High temperatures will be near 90. Expect southerly winds at 5-10 mph. On Friday, we can expect partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies and hot afternoon conditions with a 20% chance of isolated afternoon thundershowers. Highs will be in the low-90's. Look for southerly winds at 5-10 mph.

Partly cloudy skies and seasonably hot temperatures should continue through the end of this week, as high pressure aloft and humid, southerly winds at the surface keep summer-like weather around. We will see a chance of thundershowers due to afternoon heating over inland areas and the presence of a stationary frontal boundary over north central Texas. This morning’s surface weather map shows a and elongated and stationary frontal boundary extending southwest from a low east of Boston, across the Middle Atlantic and Mid-South regions to central Texas. The front then continues back north and northwest across the Rockies to a low over Idaho. To the east, an active cold front extends west from Virginia across the Ohio Valley and north to the northern Plains. Out west, a Pacific cold front is pushing southeast from the low over Idaho to southern California. The upper-level map shows a more amplified pattern than we have seen lately. A deep upper-low and trough dips southward just off the US West Coast. Further east, a weak high pressure ridge sits over the eastern Rockies, while a weak trough dips south into Arkansas and northeast Texas. Looking ahead, we have a shot at some shower activity through the end of the week, through the best chances for rain will be off to our north over inland areas. Otherwise, warm to hot weather will prevail through much of this week and through the weekend as the upper-level ridge over the Rockies moves very slowly east. Our next best chance for rain will not occur until early next week when the upper-level high pressure ridge weakens and an even deeper flow of moisture reaches the area.

(TROPICAL OUTLOOK:)

Tropical Depression #2 has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Barry this afternoon. Tropical Storm Warnings are now in effect from Punta El Legarto to Barra De Nautla. At 4 pm EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Barry was located near 19.6 N and 95.2 W, or about 70 miles east-northeast of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Sustained winds are 40-mph and central barometric pressure is 1005 MB (29.68"). The storm is moving slowly west at 6-mph. Elsewhere, we are monitoring a tropical wave moving through the eastern Caribbean Sea. Otherwise, the Tropical Atlantic Basin is generally quiet this morning.