Afternoon showers and thunderstorms will taper off this evening leaving us with mostly cloudy skies across East Texas tonight. More showers and thunderstorms are expected both Thursday and Friday, though the chances look to be lower through the end of the week compared to the start of this week. The weekend forecast continues to look mostly sunny and dry with highs in the middle to upper 90s. By the middle of next week, highs could once again approach the 100-degree threshold. There is no rain in the forecast for this weekend and the beginning of next week, though, low-end chances return to the forecast by next Thursday. While no notable impacts are currently expected for East Texas, the National Hurricane Center is now monitoring two areas in the Atlantic for potential tropical development. As this time, both areas have a low chance of formation.
Today in weather history... On July 15, 2003, Hurricane Claudette made landfall at Port O'Connor, Texas, as a Category 1. Storm surge along the Texas coast reached as high as 5.3 feet, rainfall totals peaked at 6.5 inches, and two tornadoes touched down. Claudette caused $180 million in damage. The daily weather history segments come to us courtesy of the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
This week's weather word is "sansar." (Also called sarsar, shamsir.) A sansar is an "icy wind of death”; a northwest wind of Iran." This definition comes from the American Meteorological Society's Glossary of Meteorology (2026).
Other topics on today's show include updates on flooding, dangerous heat, and wildfires in other parts of the U.S., as well as the discovery of sugar molecules in outer space. Lastly, the satellite imagery of the day showing excessive rainfall from slow-moving storms in Texas and wildfire smoke over the northeastern U.S., courtesy of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere.
