Mother Nature's Sick Humor

Well, most of the severe drought-stricken areas of Texas and Oklahoma completely missed out on any rain from yesterday's system. Despite a powerful upper trough plowing through the region, it was more of a positive tilt which veered the low level flow (meaning winds switched from south to west) which scoured out most of the moisture well ahead of it. In fact, due to the previous strong systems plowing deep into the Gulf of Mexico with bone-dry air, it took alot longer to advect any moisture deep into Texas. Plus, all of the dynamics both at the surface and aloft ended up being well ahead of the trough which is typical for a postive-tilt trough.

The dryline and surface cool front plowed through early and advected in a desert type airmass void of any sort of moisture whatsoever. So, even what meager amounts rain that was trying to fall from higher cloud bases ended up evaporating before ever reaching the surface.

The models however are starting to form a consensus on a major upper level storm system for us the early part of next week which shows alot of promise for significant rains. At this point, skepticism is the better part of caution. :-)