CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The dominant upper-air ridge over West Texas will keep most rain chances at bay through early next week, but a major pattern shift will allow significant rain chances by Tuesday and Wednesday. Meantime, afternoon temperatures will soar from the upper 90s to near 100, with heat indices between 110 and 116 degrees. Morning lows will be in the middle to upper 70s. Afternoon sea breezes will gust to around 20 mph.
Daytimes will be oppressively hot and overnights warm and humid until the upper ridge shifts well away from the Lone Star State. The ridge, now centered over West Texas, will migrate into the Eastern North Pacific by early next week. That transition will allow a series of disturbances to move across South Texas Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing significant rain chances. We can expect showers and thunderstorms from late Tuesday through Wednesday, with rainfall totaling over a half inch for most areas.
The Atlantic and Eastern Pacific remain active, with the big story rapid intensification of two systems. Tropical Storm Lee soon will be a hurricane and move northeast of the Leeward Islands this weekend as a major hurricane. While it is not expected to strike land, the system requires monitoring. Disturbance 96L will remain in open waters after impacting Cabo Verde today. Eastern Pacific Hurricane Jova will intensify to a major hurricane by Friday but remain in open waters of the Pacific.
