Summer 2020 heats up in Highland Lakes

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  • On July 19, visitors to Lake Buchanan soaked in the waterway to escape the heat. The thermometer surged past triple digits as early as 11 a.m. Lake Buchanan – which sometimes suffers in years of drought –  is considered 97 percent full. Connie Swinney/The Highlander
    On July 19, visitors to Lake Buchanan soaked in the waterway to escape the heat. The thermometer surged past triple digits as early as 11 a.m. Lake Buchanan – which sometimes suffers in years of drought – is considered 97 percent full. Connie Swinney/The Highlander
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Through this week, residents will see relief from scorching triple digits temperatures, before the thermometer blazes again by the end of the month.

For more than a week, central Texas experienced consecutive days with the temperature at or above 100 degrees.

"This has been quite a week for extreme heat, with most areas seeing several days with triple digit temperah1res," state LCRA Meteorologist Bob rose. "The hottest of these days had a sizzling temperature of 108 degrees.

"After a such a miserably hot and dry week, a few changes in the weather pattern are finally on the horizon," he added.

Rose attributed the recent weather patters to a "powerful high pressure ridge which was centered earlier this week near El Paso has shifted to the northeast. Over the weekend, the ridge hovered over western Arkansas.

“With the ridge centered northeast of our region, a clockwise wind flow around the ridge is causing an easterly flow of wind from the Gulf of Mexico into the southern half of Texas,” he said. “Meteorologists refer to this flow as the ‘tropical easterlies’ as they will often bring clouds, and moisture from the tropics inland into Texas.”

Rain chances will range from five percent to 25 percent through Thursday, July 23, according to AccuWeather forecast for the Marble Falls area.

High temperatures will be in the mid to upper 90s for the rest of the week with lows in the mid 70s.

AccuWeather predicts it will “feel” like 105 or higher at the high end of the highs and 99 or near triple digits in the shade.

“Forecasts call for a second and slightly stronger wave of low pressure to push inland along the Texas coast late Wednesday into Thursday,” Rose said of the middle of this week. “Scattered rain showers and isolated thunderstorms are forecast to develop across the coastal plains and Central Texas regions and even into parts of the Hill Country late week into next weekend.”

“Rain amounts are not expected to be very heavy, with most totals staying below a half inch,” he added.

By the week of July 27, the thermometer will inch back into the upper 90s with triple digits back in the forecast by July 31.