A slow start, but warming up

Last week, Texas was still wrapping up a surprisingly cool start to summer. It was hot everywhere in the country, except in the southeast, and when we looked at Laredo, another round of onshore showers and thunderstorms was just wrapping up for the far southern part of the state. Most outlets had thunderstorms in the forecast for last Thursday, but they never materialized. Nevertheless, it was still cloudy enough that temperatures stayed below 100 one last day. It’s been a scorcher ever since, however. Accuweather had the best forecast for the last gasp of tolerable weather for south Texas.
Actuals: Thursday, July 22nd – High 93, Low 75
Friday – High 101, Low 76

Grade: A-B

Laredo, Texas to Fayetteville, Arkansas

It’s time for another road trip. This route takes us from one state to another that borders another, but we are going to cut through a third to get there. The drive covers about a day and a half, and is 762 miles long. There will be an ample amount of time spent on I-35, which will allow for a pace of 62.9mph. Not as fast as you expected? Well, that’s because of some off – interstate driving through Oklahoma. We’ll work out about 503 miles of driving on Tuesday, with the remainder on Wednesday.

DAY ONE (Wednesday)

Laredo, Texas (via Britannica.comdn

Our day will start from the Mexican border, and take us north through Texas on 35. We will abandon 35 as we head through the Dallas Metroplex and head for the Red River. There is a tail of a weak boundary sagging south through Texas that will trigger an isolated shower or thunderstorm generally north of the Austin area. Nothing severe or long lasting, but just enough to dampen the pavement from time to time. Just before we arrive at the Red River crossing, we will stop for the night in Denison.

DAY TWO (Thursday)
As the tail of that boundary drifts further south, it will clear the air in Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Well, not clear it, so much as bottle up the shower and thunderstorm threat to the south of our route. Be prepared, it’s going to be hot and miserable in Fayetteville when we arrive. Find air conditioning.

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Laredo, Texas

We’re heading down to the banks of the Rio Grande for our forecast this evening. Typically this time of the year, we can expect some high heat and a little bit of humidity. Is that the case today as well?

At 656PM, CT, Laredo was reporting a brisk 30mph gust with fair skies and a temperature of 84 degrees. Dew points were near 70, and the moisture rich environment provided an atmosphere that was active with precipitation. A line of thunderstorms ran from north of Victoria to north of Laredo. The storms nearest Laredo on the American side of the border are beginning to diminish, because they are driven less by any synoptic feature, but mostly on the diurnal interaction with onshore flow.
A remnant frontal boundary north of the Gulf Coast is leaching some moisture away from south Texas, but is more importantly allowing the space for high pressure to develop over the western Gulf. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will still be possible in Laredo tomorrow, owing less to the onshore flow, and more to the monsoon flowing through Mexico and north towards the dry line and the Front Range. As high pressure builds, it will interrupt the flow of instability into Laredo, and the end of the week projects to be dry, but much warmer.
Tomorrow – Isolated thunderstorms, High 97, Low 75
Friday – Sunny and hot, High 102, Low 78

TWC: Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. High 94, Low 75
Friday – Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 101, Low 78

AW: Tomorrow – Humid with times of clouds and sun High 93, Low 75
Friday – Breezy and less humid with times of sun and clouds High 99, Low 77

NWS: Tomorrow – A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly sunny High 96, Low 77
Friday – Sunny and hot, (early AM rain) High 100, Low 78

WB: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, High 93, Low 77
Friday – Partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny,, High 100, Low 78

WN: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy with chance of storms, High 95, Low 77
Friday – Mostly sunny, High 100, Low 78

FIO: Tomorrow – Humid and mostly cloudy throughout the day. High 94, Low 75
Friday – Humid and partly cloudy throughout the day. High 98, Low 77

The radar picture below is probably going to be a little less noisy tomorrow, and more so on Friday.

Laredo, Texas

Well, the weather hasn’t been too great up here in the Upper Midwest last couple of days. Constant periods of snow and sleet and strong winds have made for an unpleasant week. While our weekend looks to be dry but cold, let’s go see what it’s like in the Southern US. Like WAY far south. Laredo in fact! Any further south and you’d need a passport.


At 856pm CDT, the temperature at Laredo, TX was 77 degrees under fair skies. Tail end of a stationary front is lingering over the TX Gulf Coast, but is expected to retreat northward during the day tomorrow. An area of low pressure is expected to intensify over West TX from morning throughout the day as it shifts eastward. By midday, the low will be centered near Dallas while the accompanying cold front will have swept eastward through the state into LA, kicking off strong to severe weather over LA into AR. As far as the Laredo area is concerned, precip should stay off to the north as clouds are expected in the morning, but clears out by midday as strong winds from the west. Clear skies then expected throughout the rest of the weekend but with temperatures coming down a bit on Sunday in the wake of tomorrow’s system.


Saturday: Cloudy early, then clearing. High 86, Low 67.Sunday: Clear, slightly cooler. High 81, Low 55.


TWC: Saturday: Partly cloudy, windy. High 88, Low 69.Sunday: Sunny. High 81, Low 52.


AW: Saturday: Windy in the afternoon. High 91, Low 68.Sunday: Mostly sunny: not as warm. High 80, Low 54.


NWS: Saturday: Sunny and breezy. High 90, Low 68.Sunday: Sunny. High 78, Low 55.


WB: Saturday: Windy. High 91, Low 70.Sunday: Sunny. High 80, Low 52.


WN: Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 90, Low 68.Sunday: Sunny. High 79, Low 56.


FIO: Saturday: Partly cloudy in morning and breezy in afternoon. High 89, Low 69.Sunday: Clear throughout the day. high 81, Low 53.

We see the storm system getting revved up over Western TX, while eastern TX is already seeing some low clouds cover the region