This is my first blog post in the new year, so welcome to 2020! A lot is not going to change as we move into the new year; at least not when we're talking about west Texas weather. Our very familiar high pressure system is going to set up for the first weekend of the new year. That means we will see clear, sunny skies and dry weather conditions. High pressure has sinking air, so that really prevents clouds from forming. High temperatures won't be too far above average, but things will be pretty nice. The wind is the only problem we're going to face for the weekend. It will be sustained at 10-15 mph, which is fairly typical for our region of the state.
Other than that, you'll want to get outdoors and enjoy this nice weather. Obviously we need to see the rainfall. That is something we will not be seeing this weekend, or for the next seven days for that matter. Benign is going to be the word of 2020...at least in the near future. There will be some upper-level low pressure systems moving by and bringing in a few cold fronts. But that will just drop high temperatures and shift the wind around. So no issues as the kids at Lubbock ISD head back to school on Tuesday.
It appears that the warm weather will be hanging around through the middle of the month. The above photo is the latest high temperature outlook for the period of January 9-13. All but Snyder, Jayton and Guthrie have a 30% chance of above average highs. Those three locations have a 50% chance of seeing above average highs during that time. That translates to more high temperatures in the upper 50s, to mid 60s at times. As mentioned in the discussion above, there will be a few cold fronts moving through west Texas through the next week, to 10 days. Those will just drop highs to the low and mid 50s across our area. The start to the new decade is looking more mild for our "winter" weather. But we all know how quickly that can change, so stay tuned.
I've been showing the high temperature and precipitation outlooks in the last few blog posts because I know the importance of precipitation this time of year and every time of year for that matter. West Texas needs precipitation. We ended 2019 with a surplus officially in Lubbock and we definitely need that in 2020. The precipitation outlook for the period of January 9-13 is showing that most of us, in the lighter green, have a 30% chance of above average precipitation. The darker green areas have a 50% chance of above average precipitation. According the temperature outlook above, that precipitation is going to be in the form of rain. We're not going to get that winter storm that tends to affect west Texas in the winter in the near term. But we still have February and March and I will be sure to keep you safe and informed when we do get wintry weather.