Cold front and storms reach Texas this weekend

Thunderstorms and a cold front are forecast for parts of Texas this weekend! Today? We're expecting record highs and triple-digit temperatures. If you didn't have a calendar handy, you wouldn't be wrong to think we were still in July or August. Unfortunately, we're already late in September and have summer temperatures again today.

If you use the free Texas Storm Chasers mobile app, you already know today's forecast high temperature! It's going to be hot with highs in the 30s to 38s. Scattered thunderstorms are possible across south-central Texas, the coast, and deep south Texas this afternoon. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are also possible in the Texas Panhandle this afternoon into Saturday morning.

Isolated strong to severe storms will develop in eastern New Mexico Saturday afternoon. These storms will move into the Texas Panhandle and West Texas after 3 p.m. Saturday and will move east toward Interstate 27 by late evening. The most severe storms are expected to produce damaging winds, large hail and locally heavy rain. A brief tornado cannot be ruled out. The Texas Tech game in Lubbock should go well, with storms not expected until later in the evening.

A cold front will move southeast Saturday night into Sunday, with thunderstorms likely Sunday afternoon into Monday morning from northwest Texas, the Big Country and the Permian Basin to Texoma and north Texas. Some storms may be strong, bringing locally damaging winds and hail. Behind the front, temperatures will be much more comfortable in the northwest half of Texas on Sunday and Monday. The southeast half of Texas will remain seasonably hot.

Another tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico next week?

Questions arise Tuesday and Wednesday when another possible weather maker arrives. Longer-range weather model data varies on the intensity and location of certain features, but active weather may continue with additional rain chances for the northern half of Texas. In the tropics, a possible tropical cyclone could form in the northern Caribbean early next week, moving into the Gulf of Mexico by midweek. Until the system develops a defined low-level center, longer-range forecasts will be difficult (so folks sharing scary-looking model images in this area should probably be on your no-go list for reliable information).

Historically, systems originating from the northern Caribbean in late September tend to head toward Louisiana and Florida. Still, the entire Gulf Coast will have to keep an eye on the forecast next week. If we do indeed have another cold front/high pressure system in Texas mid-week, that could also cause tropical mischief to be pushed a little further east—but that's all just longer-range weather model voodoo land at the moment.