West Texas finally started to get into a wet pattern more than a month ago. However, it's been about a month since we've actually seen some decent rain in Lubbock. They saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers". But for west Texas, we're still waiting to see those April showers. All across the region, trees are coming in, flowers are blooming and grass is starting to green up. That's what happens this time of year and that is all thanks to the rain we received in March. Aside from watering your lawn, no welcome rain is in site this week. There is a shot our far eastern counties will see a storm before sunrise Wednesday, but that is really all. The next seven days will continue to stay dry for Lubbock.
Even though we have hit that dry spell, thankfully the drought update looks just fine. However, with Lubbock in a deficit for the year, I wouldn't be surprised if things start to change very soon. This is usually a wet time of the year for west Texas. We normally start to see showers and storms become a regular fix from mid-March, through mid-June. 2020 has been a strange year so far across the world and locally, the weather story has been a strange one. That is my best explanation as to why we aren't seeing the rain! Actually, most of the lift and other dynamics needed to create showers and storms has missed us either to the north, or south. That is the setup for this week, too. The storms early Wednesday morning will miss Lubbock because the best ingredients will be just to our north in the panhandle.
Speaking of those storms, the above photo is the computer forecast for Wednesday morning at 6:35 am. It is showing our area of west Texas generally missing the rain. The best lift, diverging wind, moisture and instability will be across the panhandle and into western Oklahoma. The computers do show at least a few storms trying to hang on across Hall, Motley, Cottle, Dickens and King Counties from 2:00-7:00 am. That would be the best window to see any rain in those areas only. Lubbock will stay dry. We will not get any rain over the next seven days, at least, for Lubbock. High pressure will build in and will push any storm producing systems away from us. Not what we want, but at least we will get a short break from the threat of severe storms.