HARLINGEN — The high pressure ridge squatting over the Southeast, the one causing the ferocious storms in the Plains and Mid-South, will be responsible for very high late spring temperatures here in the Rio Grande Valley over the next five days.
Heat indices, that uncomfortable combination of high humidity and high temperature, will hover between 102 and 110 from the coast all the way to Starr County between 1 and 6 p.m. The same sultry afternoon forecast will continue from now through Tuesday, and if the index is forecast to exceed 110, a heat advisory will be issued.
Actual highs over the next five days will range from the low to mid-90s along the coast to triple digits higher up the Valley.
“That ridge of high pressure over the southeastern United States really doesn’t budge at all,” said Brian Mejia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville. “In fact, it even gets a little stronger as we get into the weekend.”
The high pressure over the Southeast is the culprit in the rampaging storms which have struck the Plains and Mid-South over the past few days, bringing tornadoes, lightning and massive balls of hail along a line stretching from North Texas to Missouri.
“It’s referred to as a blocking pattern,” Mejia said. “Usually the more rainy presentation kind of stays to the north, in North Texas and the Plains. It’s the reason why the Plains are getting such severe weather right now.
“That blocking, that higher pressure, over the southeastern United States, kind of has that trail of storms going through the same areas day after day,” he added.
Low temperatures over the next five days here in the Valley will be in the high 70s each night.
5-day highs
TODAY — 91-98 degrees
SATURDAY — 92-99 degrees
SUNDAY — 94-100 degrees
MONDAY — 95-101 degrees
TUESDAY — 95-102 degrees
Source: National Weather Service/Brownsville
