Austin weather: Sunny day ahead of cold front

Sunshine for the win again today. Good Thursday morning, everybody. 16 minutes after 7 o'clock. Check out this beautiful sunrise. Barely any clouds showing up until the tail end of the time lapse on our standard insurance tower cam. We'll see a few clouds, but overall, it's going to be another great-looking fall day. And it feels like a fall morning with the clear, dry, calm conditions this time of year. The warmth we get from the sunshine the previous day will radiate back into space, leaving us with some chilly temperatures. That's what we're waking up to this morning. We have more 50s than 40s. We do find 48 out in Fredericksburg, 52 in Lampasas, 53 in Bastrop and San Marcos. Even cooler than this time yesterday. 55 up in Hutto, 54 in Pflugerville. Right now in Austin, more sun than clouds, 56 degrees, not an ounce of wind. And it's pretty cool statewide. 60s in South Texas, 40s in the Panhandle. We have another front on the move. It will get here tonight. By the time it gets here, the moisture won't recover completely. We're not expecting any rain from it, but we'll have plenty of gusty winds out of the northwest. And that front will start to enter the picture with that wind shift by mid-evening in the hill country and then crossing the I-35 corridor between 10 and 11. And then everybody feeling that chilly, dry breeze out of the north late tonight and first thing tomorrow morning. It's already dry outside. This is just going to reinforce the dry conditions for Friday going into the weekend. Will we see any rain with this front? I highly doubt it. We will have mostly sunny skies today, partly cloudy tonight. So we'll kick off some cloud cover late tonight and the gusty winds, but not a drop of rain. It's going to be a dry, breezy front, reinforcing the sunny, dry conditions tomorrow. And then the clouds start to fill in Friday night going into the weekend. More on that in just a few moments. With a full day of sunshine and a southerly breeze, we're going to warm up in a hurry. Mid to upper 70s at noon, afternoon highs in the 80s. And then this evening, 60s and 70s, that's not too bad. And then we'll drop in the 40s and 50s first thing tomorrow morning in the wake of the front with those strong winds going to make it feel even cooler. We have the same three culprits on the allergy slide. Mold, moderate, low amounts of ragweed and elm. With those gusty winds, it may stir up some more pollen, so heads up. Podcast time. We have Eleanor and Charlie, best buds. Look at them taking a nap. I love that picture. Maybe the nap was taken after a long walk. You can get two dog walks in today. That's how nice it's going to be. Looking at the bigger picture, we are tracking not one, not two, but three areas of lower pressure. One heading for the East Coast. One coming out of the Rockies. That's going to slingshot that front into the area tonight and pull in. A reinforcing shot of chill that's building across the Rockies, 30s and 40s. And then there's another low that will come into play for the weekend. Right now it's hitting the Pacific Northwest. This one's going to drop to the south and then slam on the brakes and really slow down. As long as we're east of that low, we'll have plenty of lift available to generate cloud cover and perhaps some rain. Yesterday on Good Day Austin, we're talking about the question if we're going to have enough moisture in place. For some rain, it looks like it's going to happen. We'll have just enough that's going to recover just in time before the upper low moves on in. First of all, it will enhance the cloud cover Friday night into Saturday. And then the first round of light rain moves in Saturday evening. So Saturday during the day, I'll give you the green light to have some outdoor fun. That'll be the driest day because look what happens on Sunday. I've had to bump up the rain chance for Sunday. The heaviest rains will be in South Texas. We're just expecting... On and off light to moderate rain on Sunday. 30% chance of rain Saturday night. We're up into 70% for the second half of the weekend. Both days, it's going to be cloudy and chilly. Highs in the 60s and lows in the 50s. The inches of rain will be focused in South Texas. Around here, according to the National Weather Service, yes, they've bumped up the future rain totals. They're showing right around a quarter to three-quarters of an inch. And both long-range forecast models are showing some measurable rain. European weather models showing a little more, maybe flirting with. an inch. Enjoy the cool down because the autumn chill will retreat 8 to 14 days out. This is amazing. Coast to coast, every inch of America will be warmer than average. And then wetter than average conditions from the central U.S., including us here in Texas, out toward the west coast. So it looks like later down the road, the southern branch jet stream will take over and the main storm track will lift to the north. That's why we're going to warm things up. But we'll have a higher frequency of rain events, typical El Nino weather pattern. 77 at noon, full morning of sunshine, looking fantastic later on today, and warming up to 82. Tonight, partly cloudy, turning breezy with that front, but no rain or storms to wake you up. A low of 56. Now, the winds rattling the windows may wake you up. Could have wind gusts overnight, 25 to 35 miles per hour. Sunny, cooler, and breezy on Friday. Cloudy, chilly, rainy this weekend. Most of the rain Saturday night into Sunday. And then we'll hold on to those slight rain chances with a slow warming trend early next week.