As predicted, rain chances have improved for the local area as we head into the weekend.

Yesterday, parts of Galveston County received decent amounts of much-needed rainfall, while most of us on Galveston Island saw nary a drop.
Fortunately, it appears as though rain chances will remain relatively high through the weekend and even into the middle of next week.

This morning, southeast Texas is sandwiched between areas of thunderstorms. One is located off the coast, southeast of Galveston and the other is north of the Houston area. While the storms over the Gulf, might build back this way, they are generally moving off to the east. There is some chance that the storms north of Houston could move into Galveston County later today, however.

Meanwhile, a tropical wave west of the African coast is showing some potential for development this morning. The system is tracking west, however, on a path that will take it into an unfavorable environment for development. This will tend to suppress the wave as it heads west towards the West Indies.  Still, it is a reminder that we are edging ever deeper into the tropical season.

Below is a link to the Houston Radar Loop and maps on moisture and wind shear levels in the tropics.

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=HGX&product=NCR&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

Below is a satellite view of the tropical wave/disturbance moving westward through the east-central Atlantic (coutesy of NOAA):

Next is the latest wind shear map of the region (courtesy of NOAA and the University of Wisconsin). The red, orange and yellow hues show the areas of highest wind shear:

Finally, this map shows the latest moisture levels throughout the tropical Atlantic. The purple, blue and green hues show areas with lower precipitable water, or moisture, content (courtesy of NOAA and the University of Wisconsin):