Re: July 2020
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:25 pm
We had a nice outflow breeze freshen from those storms. No rain from it for us, but the temperature dropped 15°F, and the dewpoint sank into the mid 60s, It made for a pleasant evening.
Thanks to the high pressure ridge at the mid to upper levels. The dreaded Death Ridge.
I don't know, it still doesn't quite make sense. Whenever I look at heights over Houston, they never really seem to get any stronger than 591dm - that should still allow for some isolated convection, at least.
This is well-documented. Houston is less affected by upper level ridging in the summer than the Brazos Valley or Waco, especially the SE side.tropiKal wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 3:32 pmI don't know, it still doesn't quite make sense. Whenever I look at heights over Houston, they never really seem to get any stronger than 591dm - that should still allow for some isolated convection, at least.
On the other hand, I do think models like GFS are quite biased towards drying Texas out during summer. I know for a fact that some places in the country get loads of rain forecasted even when they are under much stronger heights than anywhere in Texas.
We were lucky. Just a bit of haze and cloudiness kept temps. under the century mark. 97° for the high.Texaspirate11 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 12:33 am Galveston tied the long standing record high maximum temperature
of 95 set all the way back in 1875.
There's no issue, I'm just following through with your point. You said that the dryness is due to "death ridging." Yet even at Brazos Valley, heights really never get too strong over summer, 591-594dm. Meanwhile, other areas of the country still get rain even with the same/stronger heights - there's an obvious disconnect on the models between the driest areas in Texas compared to where the strongest heights actually are.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-an ... s-texas-saDuring the summer months, a ridge promoted by the continental warm and dry air over Mexico will shift across the southern U.S. as the jet stream goes through natural undulations. The position of this ridge over the southeastern U.S. is a key factor in forecasting whether or not afternoon thunderstorms will erupt or surface energy will stay put. For coastal areas of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, slight retreat in the upper ridge can allow a simple sea breeze to become a microscale, pseudo-cold front with widespread showers and intense thunderstorms.
I understand how the ridge works - that's not my point.DoctorMu wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:55 pm It would require, what, about 15 sec of Googling to begin to find the answer re: our sub-tropical ridge, troll?
https://wxshift.com/news/blog/understan ... er-drivers
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-an ... s-texas-sa
https://marfapublicradio.org/blog/natur ... ts%20edges.
In some summers, the ridge is stronger or weaker than others. So many factors come to play in terms of strength.txbear wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:40 am Reading the HGX discussion from this morning, all I see is "Death Ridge". Because I tend to be bit bitter about prolonged summer heat/humidity smackdown, call me skeptical about rain relief today/tomorrow. With the notable exception of you lucky folks to the north and east. The Death Ridge is an inevitable part of any Texas summer (comes with the territory), but really hoping we don't see a repeat of the summer of a certain year that shall remain unspoken.
Wish srain could package up some of that Blue Mountain greatness (I'd also take the Cascades, Rockies) and overnight it our way.
No doubt about that! Hopefully all of those variables correlate into a ridge that ebbs and flows, allowing for summer to be summer, but also reasonable opportunities for rainfall. Still wishing for some of that mountain pleasantness though