HOUSTON – Spotty to scattered showers from the weekend are sticking with us Monday morning through the afternoon. 1.7 million voters dodged the potential for thunderstorms on election day in Harris County. The weather team is watching and tracking the chance for .75-1″ of rain late Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Tonight and tomorrow morning we’ll be in in the mid 60s, but temperatures will be slightly cooler compared today with a high in the mid 70s.
Check Live Radar:
SEE ALSO: New tropical system forms in Caribbean, could pose a threat to US Gulf Coast next weekend
The real activity begins to ramp up tonight as a cold front approaches. This front will likely bring a round of heavy rain and possibly a few isolated severe thunderstorms early Tuesday morning.
It is breezy ahead of the front, with winds so agitated that the onshore flow is leading to coastal flood advisories through Tuesday morning. If you are along the coast, beware that there may be coastal and street flooding
SEE WHICH AREAS ARE UNDER FLOOD WATCH, ADVISORY WITH THE KPRC 2 FLOOD TRACKER
Election Morning Storms:
We’ve got quite a strong cold front (although it won’t bring us a lot of colder air) racing across the area late tonight and into the early morning hours of Election Day.
Timing Breakdown:
There will be enough energy to spark strong to severe thunderstorms across SE Texas. The main impacts will be gusty winds and heavy downpours. Here is the latest timing from our short-range models:
The greatest chance for severe storms will be mainly north of Houston, where the threat level is 2/5.
The front will continue to move east into Tuesday morning, making for a soggy start to Election Day. The later that you go out to vote (and please don’t sit this one out!), the less chance for heavy rain, we’ll see things taper off afternoon/early evening.
Tropical Outlook:
While it’s late in the tropical season, we are tracking Tropical Storm Rafael with sustained winds of 45 mph. Rafael is less than 200 hundred miles away from Jamaica. Tropical Storm Rafael is expected to intensify into a hurricane on Tuesday.
While it’s late in the tropical season, we’re officially still in it until the end of November! While it is concerning for all of us to see a tropical storm coming into the Gulf at any time of the year, this late in the season, it will likely encounter some rough conditions as it gets closer to the coastline. Early forecasts from the National Hurricane Center are favoring a landfall possibly near New Orleans or that the storm will continue to weaken and bring waves of rain closer to Houston by late next weekend.
The next area of development is north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. This wave has a 20% chance of developing over the next seven days.
10-day Forecast:
The early week cold front will help tame temperatures Tuesday keeping highs in the 70s. Late week rain chances are far from a wash out.
