Tag Archives: Laredo

Road Trip

Laredo, Texas to Washington, D.C.

Today we embark on a lengthy road trip, from the Mexico border to the nation’s capital! 1,723 miles separate Laredo and Washington DC, so it’s going to take 4 days to cover it all.

DAY ONE

High pressure is found over the Central Plains pushing into the Mid-MS River Valley. However, its’ effects are widely felt throughout the Central US and will keep much of East TX quiet throughout the day. The lone hiccup in the day may be some isolated shower/thunderstorm activity along the Central TX Gulf Coast, as the tail end of a weak boundary is lingering over the region and kicked up some thunderstorms in the Houston area today. This activity should be fairly isolated however so any impact should be minimal if we run into them between Victoria and Houston. The rest of the day should be smooth sailing as we finish the day in Lake Charles, LA.

DAY TWO

High pressure continues shifting eastward, and lucky for us, it’s sitting right over the route for the second day! No precip is expected as we head eastward out of Lake Charles along I-10 to Baton Rouge, then we continue on I-12 north of Lake Ponchartrain before heading north on I-59 out of Slidell. We continue along I-59 through MS before ending our day in Livingston, AL, just inside the border.

DAY THREE

Another enjoyable day thanks to high pressure! There’s a slight chance of an isolated shower or two over central AL during the late morning hours. But as we shift into far northeastern AL and make our way into TN, mostly sunny skies should continue to greet us as our northeastward trek proceeds. Partly cloudy skies are expected over eastern TN as we go past Knoxville and end our day in Bristol, TN, right on the TN/VA border.

DAY FOUR

Our last day! Will our luck finally run out when it comes to rain? Even though clouds will be on the increase today, and some scattered shower activity may dot the landscape, much of this activity looks to be caught up on the west side of the Appalachians, leaving our trip through VA fairly uneventful once again! We finish our day up cruising into DC under partly cloudy skies!

Verification

The floor gets raised

A weak cold front moving through Texas (it was a bit stronger to the north) didn’t really bring about any much by way of cold air to the Rio Grande Valley. Ahead of the front, Gulf moisture spilled into the region at the mid-levels, and introduced some clouds to Laredo. This didn’t do much for the high temperature from Sunday to Monday, however the overnight overcast did prevent temperatures from dropping off as far. Everyone was bunched near the top of the chart, with the NWS and Weatherbug tying at the top spot.
Actuals: Sunday – High 77, Low 42
Monday – High 77, Low 50

Grade: B-C

Forecast

Laredo, Texas

The good news about this forecast is that, while it’s late, there isn’t a massive snow storm on the way to Laredo.. That’s nice.

At 1156PM, CT, Laredo was reporting a temperature of 48 degrees with clear skies. A weak mid level ridge is keeping things stable across the southern Plains tonight, and despite a changing upper level pattern, it should remain dry and fairly tranquil through the day on Sunday as well.
The change coming is in the form of a lee trough expected to develop over southeastern Colorado. There is full layer support for this feature, as the weak ridge will be supplanted with a weak upper level ridge. This will allow the lee feature to draw some moisture from the Gulf. Expect clouds and wind to pick up in Laredo as the system begins its trek across the Plains and an associated cold front organizes late on Monday, but even though moisture will be brought north, not much will be transported west towards Laredo, so those clouds won’t bring any rain.
Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 75, Low 44
Monday – Mostly cloudy, a bit breezy High 77, Low 54

TWC: Tomorrow – Mainly sunny, High 77, Low 44
Monday – Sunny skies, High 80, Low 53

AW: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny and beautiful High 76, Low 44
Monday – Partly sunny, nice and warm High 79, Low 55

NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny High 74, Low 42
Monday – Sunny High 77, Low 54

WB: Tomorrow – Mostly Sunny, High 74, Low 42
Monday – Mostly sunny, High 77, Low 54

WN: tomorrow – Mostly Sunny High 75, Low 41
Monday – Mostly Sunny High 77, Low 41

FIO: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy overnight. High 77, Low 43
Monday – Mostly cloudy in the morning. High 80, Low 54

The national satellite is good tonight for showing you just how calm the middle of the country is right now, despite the aftermath of the storm out east and some chop in the Rockies.
Laredo

Verification

Not so dusty south Texas

Laredo reported rain! That was the big surprising takeaway from the forecast in Laredo, but there were some more minor ones as well. For example, it hit 90 on Wednesday, which was warmer than a few envisioned, and the low temperature didn’t dip below 70. There was a thought that the advancing cold front that did bring rain would also bring a midnight low Wednesday night. Nope! The Weather Channel and Forecast.io collectively seized the top spot, while those at the bottom missed by a ton.
Actuals: Wednesday – Rain reported, not measured, High 90, Low 71
Thursday – High 76, Low 64

Grade: B-D

Road Trip

Madera, California to Laredo, Texas

Given how the weather is shaping up in the Plains, a three day trek along the Mexican border sounds like a good idea. It’s 1646 miles between the two towns, and our pace will be about 65.8mph, which means the two shorter days will cover 526.7 miles, with a larger chunk of travel reserved for Friday. OK, time’s a-wastin’.


DAY ONE (Wednesday)
Madera
Not only is the system that brought snow to the Sierras, and will bring severe weather to the Plains on Wednesday already going to be clear of the states on our route, we won’t be headed east until after we hit Los Angeles. We won’t even cover ground that will be impacted by this particular system on Wednesday. The drive will end in Horvatter, California.

DAY TWO (Thursday)
There won’t be much to speak of along the Mexican border. Lazy airflow and still warm temperatures for the southern Rockies. It will cool off after we clear out of Tucson, thanks mostly to the elevation in the region. We’ll call it a day in El Paso, without a worry about the weather. Maybe a worry about the dusty drive and what it might do to our air filter.

DAY THREE (Friday)
High pressure will be building in the southern Plains, but the position of the central high will be important. If it’s to the southwest, like the NAM suggests, it will be smooth sailing into Laredo. If it is a little to the northeast, then a return flow at the backside of the ridge could mean a very isolated thunderstorm from Fort Stockton to Del Rio and some valley fog along the Rio Grande. More likely, though, it should be dry for all three days of our drive.
Laredo

Forecast

Laredo, Texas

1 Comment

Down to the deep southern Texas we go. There are a lot more little (and big) towns scattered throughout Texas than people appreciate, I believe.

At 856PM, Central Time, Laredo was reporting mostly clear skies with a temperature of 71 degrees. Flow in south Texas was predominantly on shore, and some midlevel clouds were appearing along the Texas coast, though they were having a tougher time reaching the western Rio Grande.
The flow is fairly vigorous in response to a rapidly intensifying area of low pressure centered over western Kansas. A cold front will begin to emerge over northwest Texas, with some prefrontal shower activity developing by early tomorrow morning in east Texas. The rain will stay northeast of Laredo, but that’s not to say there couldn’t be a few cumulus cloud sin the area through much of the day tomorrow. AS the low shifts into the Great Lakes Wednesday night into Thursday, expect a more well defined boundary in Texas, though it will be along the Gulf Coast, signifying the end of any threat in Laredo. High pressure will build back in, leading to a nice day on Thursday, though a fair bit cooler.
Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy, High 87, Low 70
Thursday – Mostly sunny and cooler, High 74, Low 66

TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, High 92, Low 70
Thursday – Partly cloudy, High 75, Low 64

AW: Tomorrow – Breezy in the morning; otherwise, partly sunny and humid High 91, Low 72
Thursday – Partly sunny and cooler High 74, Low 66

NWS: Tomorrow – Partly sunny, High 86, Low 65
Thursday – Mostly sunny, high 74, Low 59

WB: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy, High 86, low 70
Thursday – Partly cloudy, Cooler. High 74, Low 59

WN: Tomorrow – Partly Cloudy High 86, Low 64
Thursday – Partly Cloudy High 73, Low 59

FIO: Tomorrow – Dry and mostly cloudy throughout the day. High 93, Low 71
Thursday – Dry and mostly cloudy throughout the day. High 76, Low 63

There are some wildly disparate forecasts fro tomorrow. It will be dependent on how fast clouds and cold air can get into town. There is even some difference in the low forecasts for tomorrow, because those with cooler forecasts envision a midnight low. HEre is the satellite. The high clouds represent the looming system,
Laredo

Verification

UnLaredolike

I had mentioned the pressing area of cool high pressure and the threat for increasing clouds in Laredo, but I discounted the threat for rain. I was a fool! The rain did come, much to the chagrin of ourselves and Accuweather, but even more surprisingly, temperatures about 12 degrees cooler than expected came into town, thanks to those clouds on Friday. The Weather Service was the closest, though not great on this one.

Road Trip

Rapid City, South Dakota to Laredo, Texas

We’re taking a road trip, well aware of the the hurricane out east. It’s probably a good idea that we’re making the trip through the high plains, then, from Rapid City to far southern Texas. It will be a 1388 mile journey that will take almost three days, thanks to a lot of time spent off the interstates. In fact, almost none of the drive will be on an interstate and all of it will be through corn or wheat fields. Our off freeway driving will mean we will drive at a rate of 62.6mph, and will cover a paltry 500.6 miles a day. It’s beautiful in it’s stark emptiness out there. You have to believe me.

DAY ONE

Another deep trough in the Northern Plains is spinning up trouble tonight for the Dakotas and High Plains. We won’t entirely wait it out by the time we are ready to leave tomorrow morning, and there is a chance for some showers and isolated thunderstorms over southwestern South Dakota that will linger as we leave Rapid City. Expect some showers to remain with us as we slide into Nebraska and to remain an issue as far south as Chadron (though the chance will go way down before we even reach Nebraska). Expect some breezy conditions and seasonably cool temperatures as we make our way into eastern Colorado and beautiful Wiley, between Kit Carson and Lamar.

DAY TWO
Our drive on Friday will actually take us through some real cities, like Amarillo and Lubbock as we make our way into western Texas. It will continue to be a dry, easy driving day as we drive the high plains. We’ll be on our way to Sterling City, which is between Big Spring and San Angelo, our destination for the night when we will see our first hint of clouds or rain.

DAY THREE
The cloudy, intermittently dreary weather will probably continue for most of southern Texas. It’s a possibility that we will stay dry the whole drive, but we may see a little splash of rain, particularly around Del Rio and Eagle Pass. Just enough to force the windows closed in the hot stuffy weather. We’ll arrive in Laredo with cloudy skies and hot temperatures surrounding us like a blanket.

Forecast

Laredo, Texas

1 Comment

Way down in southern Texas, right on the Rio Grande for today’s forecast. Did you know that Laredo is the largest city in America without a bookstore? Something to be proud of.

At 356PM, CT, Laredo was reporting a temperature of 102 with partly cloudy skies. Laredo was still in the summer time pattern, mostly avoiding any wet weather thanks to their inland nature and their southern position away from any advancing systems in the Plains. Generally speaking, Laredo only has to worry about tropical systems in he late summer, and whether or not they can push inland. Seeing as Earl, Fiona and Gaston are all presently taking a an East Coast track, Laredo appears to be safe from rain for the next couple of days.
Thunderstorms are ongoing along the Texas coast, from Brownsville to Beaumont, however the only impact on Laredo will likely be a brief respite in the searing heat should some high clouds blow west into the Rio Grande Valley, though that appears unlikely. A deep high pressure will push into the southern Plains and the southern edge will provide a trigger point through Texas that may actually bring some increased clouds to Laredo on Friday.
Tomorrow – Partly cloudy and hot, High 103, Low 79
Friday – Increased clouds, still warm, High 100, Low 77

TWC: Tomorrow – Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing during the afternoon. Hot High 101, Low 78
Friday – Thunderstorms developing in the afternoon High 99, Low 77

AW: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny High 102, Low 79
Friday – Very warm with sunshine and patchy clouds High 100, Low 78

NWS: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny and hot High 102, Low 80
Friday – 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny and hot, High 100, Low 79

WB: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, High 102, Low 80
Friday – Partly cloudy in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, High 101, Low 79

A look at the satellite shows Earl really well, as well as those storms along the Texas coast.