Hot Dust Today, Cold Rain Wednesday
Out in the parched panhandle of Texas, 60 mile per hour wind gusts today whipped up a dust storm. The dust moved into the northwest quarter of North Texas at the end of the afternoon and evening.
Visibility dropped down to around two miles in Denton and Decatur, winds gusted higher than 40 mph all afternoon, blowing dust around and making eyes sting and lungs hurt.
A dry line pushed right through the metro area mid-afternoon, turning the southwest wind to the west and dropping the relative humidity down to the teens.
Between the dry air and howling winds, temperatures climbed from the upper 30s in the early morning hours to 79 degrees by afternoon. This was the warmest day so far this year and so far this winter.
As night falls over North Texas the winds will start to diminish. A cold front moves in late this evening, dropping the temperatures a bit and turning the winds to the northwest.
As the winds settle down the dust will as well; you'll see what I mean by tomorrow morning.
That won't be frost on your windshield tomorrow morning but a thin layer of fine reddish powder.
Viewer photos of the dust around North Texas:
MONDAY IS FINE, TUESDAY NIGHT NO SO MUCH
We'll start the work week with sunshine and lows around 40°. Highs should get into the low 60s as winds turn to the southeast in the afternoon.
High clouds will be coming in at the close of day and evening. There is a big rain coming ahead and it arrives the next day.
TUESDAY- IN COMES THE RAIN
We'll start Tuesday with mostly clear skies and temperatures in the upper 30s. The winds start to pick up from the east as clouds rapidly build in.
Light rain will start to move up from the south by afternoon. By evening, heavy rain and storms form over North Texas, 1"-2" of rain is possible, some areas will get over three" especially in our southeast third (a line from Hillsboro to Kaufman and southeast).
There could even be issues with urban flooding by Wednesday morning. The biggest rain will be overnight heading into Wednesday.
The HPC puts several pockets of 2"-3" of rain (the red area) over the dry lands of Texas. This is going to help the exceptional drought still in progress over the Hill country to our south.
WEDNESDAY: COLD AND WET
We'll probably start the day on Wednesday around 50s and not have the temperatures move much.
It'll be windy with occasional light to moderate rain. Not a pleasant day save for the much-needed rain.
THURSDAY
It appears that the upper level low that is creating all this rain will move right over us.
On the back side of the low, when the it's center is to our east, clouds and light rain will continue.
So will the cold weather; highs will again only be in the mid-50s by afternoon with cloudy and windy conditions.
UPCOMING WEEKEND
It is looking dry.
Friday should be nice with some sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. Another cold front comes in on Saturday, it'll be very windy with highs only in the upper 50s.
There won't be enough moisture to get any rain going but the cooler weather will be around for Sunday as well, highs will stay in the 50's again.
