Austin weather: Rainy to sunny but changes ahead

Happy Tuesday, everybody. 15 minutes after 7 o'clock. Thanks for stopping by and joining us on Good Day Austin. It's election day, and it started off rainy and stormy, and we captured the lightning show on our high-resolution time lapse as those storms rolled on through, plus the skies really opened up. And you can see that rain also up in Georgetown on our Mac High 4 time lapse. The driving conditions are slowly improving, and we're starting to see the clearing line already off to the northwest. It's not going to stay cloudy and rainy all day long. From Austin, out in the hill country, most of the rain's over. We'll have a lingering shower or two in the next 30 minutes here in the Austin Metro. In LaGrange, you haven't seen any rain yet, but you will, and you'll start to dry things out by late morning. Travel forecast up and down I-35. Uh-oh, we have yellow on the map. That means look out for some wet roads early on. Then the sunshine is out full force later on today. Let's buckle up and take a radar tour. The storm threat is diminishing. The lightning's going away, but we still have some scattered showers out there in Lee County from Giddings to Lexington, then out 290 going to Northern Bastrop County along Highway 71 from Smithville to Bastrop near the airport, down 21 going closer to Mustang Ridge, down 183 from Lockhart to Luling. A nice steady rain. And here's the back end of the rain Moving away from Bee Cave on Highway 71 and then crossing 360 near Westlake. And this will come across downtown Austin, North Austin, Pflugerville, Round Rock very shortly. In fact, some more light rain moving on in near Round Rock. In the Hill Country, you're done with the rain. You can leave the umbrella at home. And I'll tell you, this front overachieved with the rain. Yesterday on Good Day Austin, we were sitting down and chatting with us. Talking about how much rain we could see with these storms. We were thinking we were projecting about half an inch, three-quarters of an inch. Some areas in the green saw over an inch of rain. In Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Lee, Burnet, Llano, Lampasas counties, and most of the counties here in Central Texas saw some rain. Over an inch in Llano and Mason, so we can verify those one-inch totals on the LCRA. Rain gauge network over an inch around Lake Travis, Round Rock, Cedar Park, over half an inch in Buda. The rain totals will continue to go up across our eastern counties, almost an inch in Elgin. In South Austin, half an inch to one inch. North Austin, slightly more, over an inch from Allendale to Hyde Park, up toward Tech Ridge and 183 in Duval. And if you're hitting highways and byways this morning, allow some extra time. The worst of the weather is behind us. Have the low beams on so the other drivers can see you. We still have the dreary skies out there. Windshield wipers have to be turned on a couple of times. And watch your speed with the wet conditions. But the ponding on the roadways. Behind us now as the heavy rain starts to continue to move eastbound. And we're thinking by 9, 10 o'clock, that's a wrap on the rain here in Austin and the Hill Country. And then some leftover showers in Bastrop, Lee, Fayette counties until 10 o'clock. By lunchtime, the rain is long gone. And sit back, relax, and enjoy a full afternoon of sunshine. Clear, tranquil conditions tonight with no storms waking you up. And then another full day of sunshine tomorrow. How much more rain are we talking about? Half an inch or less, mainly over eastern counties here in the next couple of hours. Front's going to sweep across the state, pushing the clouds and the rain out of the picture, clearing our skies, but the chilly air is lagging way behind it. We will feel it tonight going into tomorrow morning. 40s, that's jacket weather in the panhandle. 70s still in South Texas. Rain-cooled 60s from Austin into the Hill Country. Still in the 70s in Bastrop, Giddings, and La Grange. 69 right now in Elgin. 67 in Lakeway. Heading to the hike and bike trail. If you don't mind, a few light rain showers. The worst of the weather is behind us. 68 degrees, winds are calm on the muggy meter, still a little humid. As the day goes along, the air will dry out. And after the rain, the mold count's going to go way up, but the pollen numbers will continue to drop off. Winds out of the northwest, not too strong today, 5 to 15 miles per hour. The country's divided. Warm weather moving up into Kansas City and Chicago. Chilly air going down the Rockies. So where those two air masses meet, rain and storms right down the middle of the country. It's podcast time, and our dog of the day, Rowdy, high energy, what a shocker, right? Loves all people. And heading out for a dog walk this morning. May have some muddy paws. And then as the day goes along, the weather will keep getting better and better. 60s this evening for your plans. And then 40s and 50s to wake up to tomorrow morning. May need the long sleeves. Then highs in the 70s tomorrow afternoon. And then another chilly start coming up on Thursday. We're going to be on the cool and drier side of this low as it continues to march across the country. Taking the severe weather threat with it off to the east. On the back side of it, you see that shade of orange? That's some dry air being sucked in on the backside of that low, and we have multiple low-humidity days to look forward to for the rest of the week, and even going into the weekend with sunny, dry skies until the clouds start to surge back in in advance of this next western low. That's going to catch a ride on the southern branch of the jet stream. It will begin to throw moisture and clouds our way. It's going to be moisture-starved for us anyways with the very dry air near the ground. In mid-high levels of the atmosphere, we'll have a lot of moisture, enhancing the cloud cover, keeping us on the cooler side. Highs in the 60s this weekend with the rain threat staying down to our south from I-10 into south Texas. This is where we'll have the highest rain totals. It may deliver a tenth to a third of an inch. That's something we'll have to monitor as we get closer to the weekend. So rain chances up in the air this weekend, but we know for sure We'll have less sunshine, and it's going to be a cooler weekend. Instead of highs in the 70s, we'll have highs in the 60s, both Saturday and Sunday. Embrace the cooler weather, because it disappears beyond the seven-day forecast, eight to 14 days out. Most of the country will be warmer than average, and we could be tracking some more rain machines coming in from the eastern Pacific. Today, the rain faucet turns off, and then the sun is out in full force on this election day with a high of 77. Winds settle down. Clear, dry conditions in those 70s will turn into 40s and 50s by the time you start your day tomorrow with a low of 55. And the chilly mornings and comfy days, stay with us. With dry skies, a few more clouds late in the week, a lot more cloud cover this weekend, slow down the warm-up even more with highs in the 60s and a slight chance of rain on Saturday. Here's what the radar looks like. Some lingering spotty showers for the next hour or two.