CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Wind, wind, wind go away! They have certainly been gusting for about 12-18 hours in the Coastal Bend bringing some tropical storm-force winds as high as 54 MPH officially out at Corpus Christi International Airport. Wind Advisories remain in place for coastal locations until later this morning.
All this wind is in advance of a cold front that is sweeping across the northern parts of the state and bringing them some showers and storms. As we remain on the tail end of that front, all we’ll see when this front moves in later this morning is the dry associated with it. As that happens, and our winds shift to the west-northwest, we will see our humidity levels drop and result in extreme fire danger in the region.
In addition, temperatures will warm up quite significantly with highs in the low to middle 90s for many locations. Even along the coast we’ll get into the middle 80s.
The combination of dry air, dry vegetation, strong winds and warm temperatures are all going to come together this afternoon to create the extreme fire conditions. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning from 10AM until 8PM. Outdoor burning, or any activity dealing with sparks or flames, is HIGHLY DISCOURAGED. Any fire that starts up with be difficult to put out by fire officials.
Winds will come down later tonight as temperatures tumble into the low 50s; however, they will pick back up tomorrow under mainly sunny skies and highs return into the 80s and 90s for many and result in high fire danger.
We’ll see more clouds for the end of the week, along with gusty east-southeasterly wind, but it won’t be quite as hot. Still, we’ll see high fire danger not only for Friday, but into the weekend and early next week.
Rainfall chances still minimal to none over the course of the next 7-days. A few very weak fronts will try to move into the area, with the first on Saturday and the next early next week, but they’ll struggle to combat the southeasterly winds and any shower activity that does form is only forecast to be stray in nature.
Don’t look for the fronts to cool things off much either, as highs will remain in the 80s right through the end of next week.
Today: Early AM front brings in very dry air and clears out the clouds, turning sunny, hot, hazy and very windy with EXTREME FIRE DANGER; RED FLAG WARNINGS & WIND ADVISORIES posted…High: 93…Wind: WNW 15-30 MPH & gusting.
Tonight: Mainly clear, dry and less wind…Low: 53…Wind: ENE 5-10 MPH.
Thursday: Mainly sunny, winds elevated again near breezy levels, not quite as hot, but still very warm and dry with high fire danger…High: 87…Wind: E 15-25 MPH.
Friday: Mainly cloudy and warm with windy conditions returning and high fire danger still in view…High: 81…Wind: ESE 15-25 MPH & gusting.
Saturday: Partly cloudy and warm with humidity rising…High: 85…Wind: ENE 10-20 MPH.
Sunday: Partly cloudy and warm with breezy conditions…High: 84…Wind: ESE 15-20 MPH.
Monday: Mainly cloudy, windy, warm and humid with elevated fire weather conditions…High: 82…Wind: SE 15-25 MPH & gusting.
Have a great day and be careful out there with the extreme fire danger!