Welcome to a new work week, and welcome to another edition of "Gulf Watch!". You've probably heard the rumors over the weekend about tropical weather brewing, and now we'll get to focus on that, and how it will affect your forecast for the middle part of the week.
First today will be fine. Expect a mix of sun and clouds with afternoon temperatures in the lower 80s. Humidity shouldn't be too bad, but it will be increasing rapidly overnight. An upper trough across the southwestern parts of the country will continue to advance eastward. This should initiate a pull on Tropical Storm Zeta toward the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday.
While our weather will remain quite warm, areas to our west are watching winter type weather developing. And our friends in neighboring Texas will see a mixed bag of precipitation today and tomorrow where colder temperatures are holding. This winter type precip and cold will eventually push eastward. It's hard to believe we're talking about a winter storm, and a tropical system at the same time.
The front will advance eastward, and should be able to pull Zeta northward and then northeastward rapidly on Wednesday. As of now, it appears upper level conditions will not be favorable for intensification of Zeta as it heads toward land.
Zeta could become a hurricane today, but will hold its own or weaken into Wednesday, On the current track, direct impacts will be felt more to our east, but the combination of Zeta and a strong cold front cold get the winds whipping Wednesday.
Once the front moves through, and Zeta cruises northeast, expect sunny skies and pleasant temperatures for the rest of the week!
