CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Skies will remain generally fair through the middle of next week as upper-level high pressure just north of the region keeps excessive heat and humidity in place. Rain chances will be inconsequential.
A weak wave offshore in the Gulf of Mexico is allowing stray showers and a few thunderstorms from the Coastal Waters into the southern Coastal Bend this afternoon and again on Thursday; otherwise, hot and quite humid conditions will persist through the middle of next week.
That means morning lows are just a couple of degrees above normal, in the upper 70s to around 80, while afternoon readings surge to the upper 90s to lower 100s, or 5 to 6 degrees above normal.
Coupled with very high dew points in the upper70s to lower 80s, resultant afternoon heat indices will be in the 113 to 119 degree range. Accordingly, Heat Advisories are likely to be upgraded to Excessive Heat Warnings later this week and through the weekend. No meaningful relief is in sight from the extreme and long-lasting heat either, as atmospheric models suggest the upper ridge will remain spread west-to-east across the southern U.S. for the next ten days, at least.
This scenario also will exacerbate emerging drought conditions over the Coastal Bend.
Meanwhile, the Tropical Atlantic Basin remains essentially quiet while the Eastern Pacific Basin is quite active. Category 2 Hurricane Dora remains a healthy and intensifying system, bound to become a major hurricane overnight or Thursday.
The system is moving west into the open waters of the Eastern Pacific, where it poses a major threat to mariners. Another disturbance south of Mexico is quickly becoming organized and is likely to be a tropical depression by this weekend. This system will parallel the western Mexican coastline with its impact to be determined.