Austin on Sunday is shaping up to be sunny and hot, with peak daytime temperatures soaring to 99 degrees, forecasters said. Thanks to south-southeast winds pulling moisture-rich air from the Gulf of Mexico, the humid air will make the heat “feel” closer to 107 degrees. At night, under mostly clear skies, temperatures should bottom out only around 77 degrees before sunrise Monday.
Our hot and rain-free weather can be blamed mostly on a subtropical ridge of high atmospheric pressure centered near the Four Corners region in the desert Southwest. Meanwhile, another high pressure system over the Gulf of Mexico is pushing humid tropical air into Central Texas from the southeast.
While “the upper ridge will be weak enough to allow isolated showers and thunderstorms to form over the Coastal Plains and move inland,” the weather service said its forecast models have been hit-or-miss about potential rainfall closer to Austin and the Interstate 35 corridor.
Austin on Monday will likely be mostly sunny again, but with temperatures falling short of triple digits, peaking at 98 degrees. Balmy south-southeast wind of 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon are expected to become more robust at night with gusts as strong as 20 mph, forecasters said. More clouds will roll in overnight, helping to keep temperatures above 78 degrees into Tuesday morning.
“Monday, the upper ridge will begin to shift back toward the southeast,” the weather service said. “Movement will be very slow, Monday will be very similar to Sunday.”
Humidity will be particularly high in the Coastal Plains east of I-35, where the weather service could issue heat advisories. Such alerts warn of a combination of extreme heat and humidity that increases the public health risk from heat-related illnesses, forecasters said.
“A few showers or thunderstorms could move over the Coastal Plains, but the inland advance will be limited,” the weather service said.
“As the ridge continues to shift back toward the southeast, rain chances will come to an end Tuesday,” the weather service said in its forecast bulletin. “Temperatures will creep up a bit into the middle of next week.”
Austin on Tuesday should be sunny and hot, with temperatures hitting 100 amid southerly winds of 5 to 10 mph and gusts as strong as 20 mph, forecasters said.
Wednesday similarly will be mostly sunny and hot, but this time with temperatures peaking at 101. Thursday’s forecast also calls for mostly sunny skies as afternoon temperatures soar to 102 degrees.