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Monday's weather -- mild temperatures, sunny skies -- was hard to beat, but we might come close today.
Wednesday, however, will be an entirely different story: You'll need an umbrella after 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.The forecast Wednesday holds a classic setup for intense showers and thunderstorms in North Texas, said Eric Martello, weather service meteorologist.First, gusty southerly winds will replenish the region with rich low-level moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Next, storms will be triggered when the moist air gets stirred by an upper-level disturbance that will swoop in from the Rocky Mountains, Martello said. A cold front will follow."So," Martello said, "you're looking at six to 12 hours of steady rain and some of it could be locally heavy. "It goes right on through Thursday morning around daybreak."There is an 80 percent chance for heavy rain during the day and a 90 percent chance at night, the weather service said.But, Martello added, "our soils are still semi-saturated from the past month or so, and it's not going to take much to get them saturated again."Consequently, he said, the weather service officials are concerned about flash flooding across the region.They have issued a flash flood watch for Wednesday afternoon, coinciding with the clouds opening up. The watch is expected to continue at least through late Wednesday night.Adding to the mix will be a southwesterly air flow aloft that will bring tropical moisture from the Pacific Ocean, the weather service said.Martello noted, however, the Pacific moisture in North Texas is only an "indirect" result of Tropical Storm Rick, which on Tuesday was moving northeast toward the west coast of Mexico, just south of the lower tip of the Baja Peninsula. Most of that storm energy will be felt in South Texas, Martello said, which was parched this summer by severe drought.There is a 40 percent chance for showers Thursday morning, but the skies are expected to begin clearing in the afternoon, the weather service said.Friday will be mostly sunny, with high temperatures in the upper 60s. It will be chilly after sundown, with lows in the mid 40s, as the cold front packing cool dry air follows in behind the upper-level disturbance, Martello said.Sunny skies continue Saturday and Sunday, with highs ranging from the high 60s to the low 70s, the weather service said.
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