Bob Peters Forecast

After about six weeks of very little rainfall in Tyler, chances for relief are looking up.

Since June 29, the city has measured only 0.29 inch of rainfall.

Winds aloft down the Plains have become northwesterly as upper air high pressure is situated over New Mexico, extending northward to the Canadian Border.

This permits disturbances to drop down the Plains, pulling cooler air.

The result is a cold front, which was along the IH-44 Corridor in Central Oklahoma Thursday afternoon.

Showers and thunderstorms had developed along this boundary, and were within about 70 miles of Tyler over Southeast Oklahoma late Thursday afternoon.

As this front sinks farther southward, so will the thunderstorms.

Shower and thunderstorm activity should be widespread over East Texas, perhaps beginning during the pre-dawn hours of Friday, and most likely during the afternoon hours.

Areal coverage should be about 60 percent, with the activity increasingly likely from south to north.

Rainfall amounts Friday should average around one-half inch.

Showers could continue Saturday as moist air remains in place and additional ripples in the northwest flow affect the region.

By early next week, a low pressure area should be in the Central Gulf of Mexico. It was over the Western Bahamas Thursday afternoon. This should keep slight shower chances going.

By the latter part of next week, another fairly significant system in the northwest flow aloft should again bring widespread showers and thunderstorms.

Temperatures should run near normal for much of the next week or so.

Temperatures on Thursday ran about 3 degrees warmer than Wednesday, and were about 4 degrees above normal. This was due to the upper air high pressure ridge's influence, along with air moving downward through the atmosphere into the approaching cold frontal trough.

Temperatures Friday through Sunday should run near normal.

Low temperatures Friday morning were in the 70s, with daytime highs in the middle 90s to above 100.