MTW Discussion

Usually the song and dance for forecasting the weather in South-Central Texas is never underestimate the power of the ridge.  That is what usually keeps us dry and the reason why we miss out on so many storm events.  Last night, that was not the case.  We underestimated the power of a nice shortwave trough in West Texas that pushed eastward firing up a very steady and heavy batch of showers and thunderstorms that roared all night long into the early morning hours.  Some of these storms did in fact reach severe limits.  There were reports of a funnel cloud near Leakey, pea sized hail in Hondo, and a gust to 58 mph.  Here in Bexar County we saw some very heavy rainfall, gusty winds, and an awesome display of lightning. I originally expected that these storms would fire up by Tuesday evening/overnight … instead, we were all surprised by their early arrival.

What does this mean for today’s forecast?  It is actually a no-brainer — more of the same.  This morning’s Doppler radar and infrared satellite imagery continue to indicate several impulses activating in West Texas and Northern Mexico pushing eastward into the region.  The next line of storms has already developed and should cross the border into western portions of South-Central Texas fairly shortly.  These storms will probably make it to the San Antonio-Metropolitan area/ IH-35 corridor around lunch time. Again with these storms the main threats will be heavy rainfall, strong winds, and large hail.  An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.  I do not expect a widespread outbeak of severe storms due to the lack of upper-level dynamics, but there is certainly more than enough instability to get these storms going strong.  And behind this?  Another round of storms will move through the region yet again later this evening into the overnight hours.

Thunderstorms remain again in the forecast on Thursday and Friday, albiet less organized than last night and today.  Most of the storms will be the product of daytime heating and will fizzle out after sunset.  A late season cold front may move through by Friday ending our rain chances at least temporarily.

Another series of disturbances is forecast to approach South-Central Texas by Sunday and continue through at least the early portions of next week. As a result of all the precipitation, high temperatures should be much more moderate than previously anticipated.  We will not see nearly as much sunshine so I have reduced highs to hover between the mid 80s and low 90s the next 8 days.  Overnight lows will be in the mid 60s to about 70 accounting for the possibility of rain-cooled air.

Quite an amazing shift in our weather pattern considering how long and brutal our drought, which began in September 2007, has been.  And as always, we will surely keep a very close eye on each and every storm system that moves through the region.

Should inclimate weather affect our region, we will do our best to notify you immediately.  Check our Twitter, frontpag e, and Live Streams on MyTexasWeather.com for the latest updates.

Stay tuned.

As most of you noticed, the MTW forum has been closed this week for upgrades.  During the downtime we have been evaluating site performance and have decided to move in a new direction for now.  This new direction does not include a forum in the immediate future, but we may bring it back in time.

Don’t worry … there are several new exciting features coming to MyTexasWeather very soon that will enhance the way Texans get their weather information! However, if you still have the need to discuss weather with us… check our Facebook, MySpace and Twitter!

Thanks,

Anthony

In an effort to improve networking capabilities on MyTexasWeather, we decided to add MySpace and Facebook accounts.

To visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=64503502472

To visit us on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mytexasweather

Tell all your friends…. spread the word!

MyTexasWeather is glad to announce we are working on ways on automating the way we broadcast weather warnings to you.  In the past, it has been a struggle to send live updated information as everything has been entered via the human element.  We are now experimenting with more automated features to deliver crucial warning information instantaneously to you.

Our current plan in doing so includes using TwitterFeed to broadcast RSS feeds from the National Weather Service straight to the Twitter.  Why Twitter?  Because Twitter information can be broadcast via cellphone or e-mail by each subscriber (or in the world of Twitter — a “follower”).   In time, we will work out the kinks and strive for a fail proof system to make MyTexasWeather the most reliable source for weather and weather networking in the state of Texas.

For those of you familiar with My Texas Weather in the past, the website ran purely on old-fashioned HTML. While simplistic, the format was not user or operator friendly.  The site was prone to several typoes that were both cosmetic and structural.   Therefore during our few month hiatus, we decided the best approach for a site relaunch is to enter the world of “Web 2.0.”  That is, we strive to be much more interactive by being much more user and operator-friendly.  Here is a list of some changes that you will notice:

• The old weather discussion will now be featured in “blog” format provided by WordPress which allows each reader to submit comments.
• Twitter is now used for quick weather updates that can be broadcasted “live” to all subscribers.
• Revamp of the My Texas Weather forum with the latest MyBB software.

More site enhancements are on the way, so keep checking in to MyTexasWeather.com for updates.