This week the pattern will begin to evolve and slowly move us into a wetter and cooler pattern for our area. More on that later.
The Euro Shifts Laura’s Path
Hurricane Laura has been sitting back doing her thing in the Caribbean but she is headed into the Gulf. Over the years I’ve gotten a number of followers in Texas and Florida. To be exact #1 is Colorado, #2 is Texas, #3 is Florida. Days before Harvey hit Houston the Euro started warning of the historic rains that would inundate the Houston area due to a stalled frontal boundary to the north. Harvey was more known for its rain than anything. The latest Euro has turned Laura’s path sharper west. This would result in a landfall that could impact Houston and especially Galveston.
At the moment it brings Laura into Galveston late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center will likely shift the cone from Corpus to Lake Charles. Marco never had a chance which is why I didn’t even mention it. Shear is a Hurricane’s enemy, and it literally sheared Marco apart and continues to do so this morning. So if you have friends and family in the Texas Gulf Coast region you may let them know there is the possibility of a major hurricane in the Wednesday-Thursday time period. As soon as the cone shifts the media will be going crazy with this. I usually don’t get over-excited about these. You know I tend to downplay these things and avoid the hype at all costs. But if I lived in the Houston area right now, I would have some concerns.
The rain should not compare to Harvey but this is a big strong storm. Surge and damaging winds will be a big issue.
Here is landfall between 6 pm and Midnight (Wednesday night-Thursday morning).
Here are the dangerous winds through Thursday evening. This projects the highest gusts during the life of the storm.
Here are the rain totals through Thursday evening. It may not be done raining at that point so I will update this tomorrow and Wednesday.
This storm is projected to move north quickly after it leaves the Houston area, so the rain totals will be significantly less than Harvey. Hurricane conditions could make it into SE Oklahoma.
Pattern Change Slowly Evolves In Western Colorado
Our dreaded hot dry pattern is showing some chinks in its armor. The pattern has been characterized as a dominant high-pressure ridge that has been with us for just under 3 weeks. This ridge is going to slowly migrate east and allow low pressure to usher in some tropical moisture bit by bit. The heat will come down slowly. It may take a couple of days in the lower elevations to saturate the air enough to get some rain to make it to the ground.
Then, as September arrives, it looks like a series of troughs will come into the Northwest and bring more fall-like conditions. How fall-like? The Euro is showing several inches of snow in northwest Wyoming/ southwest Montana in 7-10 days! BTW September 1st is the beginning of Meteorological fall.
Thanks for following and supporting the site. I will be updating more frequently this week.