High plains rain chances return

Climatologically speaking late April means better chances for showers and storms across the high plains. So as a few disturbances move across the Texas panhandle, it’s important to keep an eye to the sky. Almost each of th next seven days shows the potential for a shower or storm.

Quick Breakdown

Today: Mostly cloudy conditions will prevail. Teh sun will peek in and out of the clouds through the afternoon and into the evening. Temperatures today will be back into the 60s across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and eastern New Mexico. While no severe weather is expected, there might be just enough instability to get a rumble of thunder or two and a few short bursts of moderate rainfall by this afternoon.

Main threats this afternoon: Much needed rainfall and a reminder that it is spring.

It will also be breezy areawide. Southeast winds will shift back toward the south and kick up this afternoon to around 20mph. A few gusts could kiss 35mph by mid-afternoon and early evening.

Tomorrow: Sunnier and warmer – not bad, right? Plus a better shot for precipitation as another disturbance pushes through. A few storms could fire across our northern counties and push south. Again the atmosphere doesn’t look capable of sustaining severe weather, but the atmospheric dynamics tomorrow are slightly more favorable for thunderstorm development, so we’ll watch it closely.

As we head into the weekend, the 70s and 80s continue. By next week we could be tracking the dryline with a chance for severe weather in some of our eastern counties.



Author of the article:


Nick Lilja

Nick is former television meteorologist with stints in Amarillo and Hattiesburg. During his time in Hattiesburg, he was also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is a graduate of both Oregon State and Syracuse University that now calls Houston home. Now that he is retired from TV, he maintains this blog in his spare time.