Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Late Summer "Cold" Front

After several weeks of triple digit heat and numerous Heat Advisories, we may finally catch some relief, courtesy of a late summer cold (cool) front.

This cold front will not necessarily drop our temperatures significantly, but rather, lower the humidity.

You will feel the difference in this refreshing airmass by mid-week as dewpoints drop into the upper 50's and lower 60's.

If you watch my weathercasts, you know that I love to talk about dewpoints. It is a measure of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere and is tied into the relative humidity and air temperature.

So far this month, our dewpoints have been in the middle to upper 70's, making for very humid and sauna-like conditions.

With the passage of the front, those dewpoint values will drop into the lower 60's and upper 50's, a sign of the drier air filtering into East Texas.

Our Adonis computer model in the image above shows our dewpoint values in the upper 50's by Thursday morning. This means that when you head out the door to work or school, it will actually feel quite refreshing to take in some fresh air.

Don't get used to it, though. By the weekend, an onshore flow returns, and so does the humidity. That will give us better rain chances, which is something we could use as well.

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