Clouds Give Way To More North Texas Sunshine

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Monday makes the fourth consecutive day of 90-degree heat, and the tenth day in the 90s for the month of May. Last year, Memorial Day reached 95 degrees.

Thanks to a strong southeast wind, clouds rolled in early Monday morning. We are already seeing an increase in humidity, thanks in part to a strong low-level jet that meteorologist Jeff Ray wrote about this weekend. That low-level jet is a core of wind about 5,000 feet up in the sky, coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. This core of wind tends to drive North Texas air at the surface, which typically occurs at night.

The cloud deck and increased humidty are common results of the low-level jet, as it couples with the boundary layer air. As the day progresses, the jet will decrease, and so will our surface winds. Therefore, Monday's trend will go from cloudy and windy to mostly sunny and breezy.

Looking ahead to the future, get ready for a big, Texas-sized helping of summer weather. North Texas will stay hot with an overall pattern of very dry air. The long-term models keep the area hot and dry through about June 14. Temperatures on these days will top out in the 90s.

The humidity will ease by the middle of this work week. But that means that high temperatures will stand a better chance of pushing into the upper 90s, versus the lower 90s.

The winds will also die down after Monday, but should return to North Texas by the end of this week.