Texas Heat Gets Worse | Tropical Storm Bertha Update

[00:00:00]Tropical Storm Bertha in the Gulf, generally heading west towards Texas.

[00:00:04]But guess what? I'm going to tell you why it's not going to be a big deal for us. You know what is the heat? It's hot.

[00:00:11]It's going to get hotter. Let's tell you about it in this Tuesday edition of your Texas Weather Roundup.

[00:00:27]Before we dive in, a big thanks to today's sponsor, hto Texas, born and brood, real tey, real refresh. And now, let's get to your forecast. Uh, yes, Siri, Bob. It is the Tuesday edition of the Texas weather roundup. I'm Texas Stormchasers, Baldi Chief, David Rhyr.

[00:00:43]It is the 21st of July, 2026, and you're looking at a live satellite and radar combination. And guess what, Texas? It is hot. It is dry. It is in the triple digits. Oh my. Unless you're out in the borderland down to the Davis Mountains there. It's only in the 80s comparatively. So enjoy that while the rest of us suffer in Mama Nature's oven.

[00:01:06]We have monsoon flooding and precipitation out of New Mexico. You can see that there. And then in the Gulf, well, we have a little spinny spinny tropical mit blob south of Pensacola, Florida. That is Bertha. maximum sustained winds this morning. Made it up to 60 m an hour. Uh but I don't think it's going to be that strong for long.

[00:01:27]It is experiencing very strong northeasterly wind shear as it begins to encounter our little heat dome here that is centered over Texas. And with that, a majority of the precipitation is actually south of the center of circulation. You can see that swirl right here. That's actually the center of tropical storm Bertha. All the precipitation is being shunted and pushed south of the center of circulation. Fairly atypical for a northern hemisphere tropical cyclone.

[00:01:57]And well, that's thanks to wind shear.

[00:01:59]You don't see intensification with that very often. Meanwhile, just for the giggles, uh yeah, there's a lot of tornado warnings this afternoon and evening across portions of Kentucky, West Virginia, and even up into portions of New Jersey this afternoon. In fact, [gasps] Huh.

[00:02:18]That's actually really close to Ocean City, New Jersey. That's where I usually go hide out when it gets too hot here in Texas. Uh it's where my parents live.

[00:02:26]So, let's talk about what Bertha is going to mean for us. And honestly, really not that much. Don't be cancelling plans now to the Texas GF Coast or your plans heading into late this week into this weekend because Bertha is going to be a weakening system. Now, we have tropical storm watches up for the Louisiana coast towards New Orleans. And guess what?

[00:02:49]Yeah, there might be some gusty winds at times, but to be perfectly honest, we see more potent activity out of a typical summertime thunderstorm here than what Bertha is going to be able to produce for us in Texas hanging into Thursday and Friday. System is generally moving west. But as we get into tomorrow and Thursday, atmospheric conditions become even more hostile to the development and even the maintenance of a tropical cyclone. It's going to be weakening and there's at least I'd say at least a 50/50 shot. This thing doesn't even make it to Texas. It just dissipates into nothingness and we have a little bit of moisture left to deal with. But because we have that heat dome on us, the high pressure, you might be thinking, "Well, Mr. Baldy man. Is the remnants of this thing going to come into Texas and give us another 20 ines of rain? Really doesn't look like it because of that high pressure dome of loft sinking air. It's just going to squish this thing to oblivion.

[00:03:43]Nevertheless, we probably will see some scattered shower and thunderstorm chances in southeast Texas down through the coastal plains to the coastal bend Thursday into Friday. Much like we saw a couple weeks ago when well, we had that every afternoon. Uh we're going to have a dangerous rip current risk along the entire Texas GF Coast and we may see some minor coastal flooding along the upper Texas GF coast. Beyond that, any additional impacts are unlikely in Texas. And even the impacts we're expecting look fairly low impact wise.

[00:04:17]Have I said impact enough? If not, someone start a counter and let me know.

[00:04:21]All right, so here's the super duper awesome blossom high-rise rapid refresh model. This is going to take us through tonight, Wednesday into Thursday. And you can see we are going to see some clouds tomorrow increase across South Texas along the Gulf Coast as we see well cloud debris from Bertha off to our east. All the rain staying to our east.

[00:04:40]Some scattered thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. Southeast Texas back into central Texas. More folks will stay dry than not. And it's not going to be a long duration. Everyone's going to get rain for hours on end situation. Could have some lightning. Could have some gusty winds. Could have some brief heavy rain. Yes, I said brief heavy rain. This does not look like a repeat of last week in any way, shape, or form. Let's make that abundantly clear. Going into Wednesday night and Thursday morning, you can see even though the rain does try to get close to us in Texas, it has great difficulty making it on shore. But could still see a few storms and showers along the Gulf Coast into South Texas Thursday and Friday. We'll keep an eye on it, of course, because Mama Nature is Mama Nature. Mama Nature does like to troll. But I reiterate, for the eenth time, this does not look like a significant impact event for Texas. Uh it looks like a day where we could have some scattered showers and storms near the coast. Not going to rain every moment of every day, and for most folks, it's not going to rain at all. Uh so there you go. There is my thoughts on that. Let the hyperbole stop. upper level look over the next week from the European weather model. You're looking at about 500 millibars. Just this is just a way to see kind of in the summer months especially here where the heat dome aloft is uh because heat is less dense than the cold air. The atmosphere actually tends to be a little taller at least the breathable atmosphere here when we are dealing with a heat dome and that is reflected by these heights on the map. So, guess what? Short story is the heat dome's going to sit over us for the next week at least. And frankly, it looks like it's going to get a little more obnoxious by the time we get to the end of July. A heat wave has begun in earnest. It's actually going to feel like and behave like summer for a little while. I know, shocking, right now. The heat though may try to skirt up into Colorado for a couple days uh this weekend, maybe just a little weaker into early next week, but its influence never really completely departs. and we're going to stay hot. Uh, and y'all know that if you've stepped outside today.

[00:06:50]Precipitation output off the European weather model. Here you go again. After we deal with Bertha, you know, trying to pretty much evaporate before it gets here, it'll probably still give us a few showers along the coast in addition to the rip current risk and minor coastal flooding. We're not going to have much else to deal with. Even the chance of pop-up showers in West Texas into the borderland, the Big Bend is decreasing.

[00:07:11]Uh, was higher yesterday. Today, not much going on. And that's going to be the gist of it through the end of the work week. You want to know what we are going to have to deal with? More heat.

[00:07:21]Here's your low temperature forecast tonight. It's going to struggle to get below 84 to 85° in the heat island known as DFW. Folks, that's dangerous heat for folks without air conditioning or who are vulnerable to heat related illnesses. You might be saying, "Well, Mr. Baldyman, this is Texas." Yes. And guess what? It being 107 in the day and 84 at night means most folks can't adequately get heat relief if they don't have air conditioning. So, the risk of heat related illnesses go up. And that's not me being hyperbolous. That's just me being truthful. Uh we're looking at 80s really the eastern half of Texas tonight. So again, it's going to be a pretty hot night all things considered.

[00:07:58]Western half of the state, 70s to low 80s. Unless you're in the Davis Mountains, it's going to be 66 in Alpine. I can't tell you how jealous and envious I am of that. But look on the bright side. If you're a summer fan tomorrow, you'll like it. Triple. It's pretty much going to be in the triple digits statewide. Unless you're in the big Well, not even the Big Ben. It's going to be in the triple digits in the Big Bend. Unless you're in the higher terrain of the Davis Mounds up into the Guadalupe Mountains or around El Paso and then it's going to be in the 90s.

[00:08:26]Everyone else, we're looking at triple digits. High temperature tomorrow near 110 in Laredo. Eastern half of Texas. I want to emphasize air temperatures tomorrow of about 102 to 106. The feel like heat index temperatures 108 to 115.

[00:08:44]So it is not going to be a pleasant experience out there. So make sure you stay hydrated. Thursday morning low temperatures are worse. We're looking at 80 to 85 eastern half of the state. Some of y'all are going to make into the 70s.

[00:08:57]Congrats. But the heat island, the urban corridors, we're not getting below the mid 80s tomorrow night into Thursday morning, which is a problem. And again, we'll elevate the risk of heat related illnesses. Going into Friday, triple digits. How about 107 in Childris, 105 Laredo, 100 in Houston. For some of us, it may actually be a degree or two less hot, but in places like El Paso, y'all are back up in the triple digits. Heat dome well established going into Saturday morning. How about lows again?

[00:09:30]We're seeing a lot of 80s on this map across Texas. So, it's going to stay hot during the day and it's not going to cool off quick or much at night. Welcome to the true definition of summer in Texas. On Saturday, more dry weather for most folks, maybe excluding the immediate Gulf Coast Friday and Saturday, y'all may get a little relief from the heat thanks to increased cloud cover and an uptick in moisture from whatever's left of Bertha. But otherwise, everyone else, it's in the triple digits. Easy peasy. And I don't see any reason that's going to stop for the next 7 to 10 days. So, gear up. It's time to start counting those triple- digit days and let's get that consecutive triple digit counter going.

[00:10:11]out. It's a great time to check out your local hto for some refreshing tea.

[00:10:16]That's what I'm going to be doing. Yes, sir. That's it for your Texas weather roundup on this Tuesday. Thanks for popping on in. You can get your local weather forecast, interactive weather radar, and more in the free Texas Stormchasers mobile app. We'll have an update coming out in the next few days that'll be squashing some of those bugs.

[00:10:30]So, keep an eye out for that on both Android and Apple. You can also find us on the web, texasers.com, and on the magical land of social media.

[00:10:40]We'll see you tomorrow with your next Bertha update. We'll have updates coming really throughout the night on social media as well. But again, a very low impact threat from Bertha here in Texas, so everyone can settle down. All right, y'all have a good one and God bless.

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