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<\/a>(NOAA\/NHC)<\/p>\nIf you looked at satellite imagery this morning, you might ask yourself, \u201cReally? Tropical Storm Bertha?\u201d And without getting too into the weeds, all I will say is, \u201cYes. It is by definition technically a tropical storm. Just go with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aesthetics are off here, but that\u2019s how these things work sometimes. Anyway, the actual surface center of 50 mph Bertha is located north of the thunderstorm activity, just south of Panama City, an indication that we\u2019re dealing with a rather unhealthy tropical storm. Over the next 24 to 48 hours, Bertha is going to get blasted by wind shear, resulting in a gradual, perhaps quick weakening. So the storm may reach its peak today. <\/p>\n Bertha will continue westward, and the NHC track shows it reaching the Upper Texas Coast as a depression on Thursday night. The thought is that shower and thunderstorm chances would increase as a result on Friday, but even that may be a stretch. Realistic impacts would be slightly elevated tides and perhaps some breezy northeast winds (20-30 mph) in Galveston Thursday or Friday. Beyond that? It seems unlikely at this point that we\u2019ll see anything more. And it may be generous to assume Bertha even survives the trip.<\/p>\n There is a little heartburn about, \u201cWell, what if Bertha tracks farther south than expected?\u201d We\u2019re watching that, but even in that case, there\u2019s a lot of dry air surrounding Bertha and the type of shear Bertha is set to experience usually decimates weak systems like this. We\u2019ll obviously keep watching, but we really don\u2019t believe this will impact Texas in a meaningful way. And there\u2019s a decent, if not good chance we don\u2019t notice any real impacts at all.<\/p>\n Heat wave<\/p>\n For those of you wondering if we\u2019d ever see real heat this summer in Houston, you\u2019ll get your answer over the next 3 to 4 days. That northeast wind shear that pummels Bertha is actually going to help deliver slightly drier air to Houston. Yes, humidity levels will be somewhat lower, but that will serve to crank up temperatures (drier air heats up more efficiently than more humid air). Not so much a \u201cdry heat\u201d as a very hot and somewhat humid setup.<\/p>\n We should see highs into the upper-90s, if not near 100 degrees today. Tomorrow is Houston\u2019s best chance to exceed 100 degrees and feels like one of those days that could be the hottest of summer. Obviously, we won\u2019t say that it will be with all of August still in front of us. But you get the idea. It\u2019s going to be hot. Exercise maximum heat precautions tomorrow. Heat risk will be in the \u201cextreme\u201d category, the type of elite we get usually a few days each summer. Heat advisories are posted today, and we\u2019ll see if those get upgraded to \u201cextreme heat warnings\u201d tomorrow.<\/p>\n<\/a>Bertha looks like a half-storm on satellite. (WeatherFront)<\/p>\n<\/a>Wednesday\u2019s forecast high temperatures (WeatherFront)<\/p>\n