Tropical storm Bill heads for saturated Texas

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track for tropical storm Bill from coastal Texas inland towards the Great Lakes this weekend.

The second tropical system of the 2015 season, Bill, developed late Monday over the Gulf of Mexico. The system is about 180km southwest of Galveston, Texas this morning, moving northwest at 13mph with 50mph winds. Bill will not have time to intensify any further before the center moves inland near Port O'Connor later today. Wind and surge impacts will be minimal but the real threat comes from the heavy rain the system will bring. Already major flooding has occurred over most of east Texas into Oklahoma and Arkansas since the start of May. Another 5-12 inches of rain is possible with Bill and flooding may be significant. The rain and tropical moisture will stream northeast into the Ohio Valley by the weekend. Looking ahead the moisture from Bill may impact the weekend forecast in the Great Lakes and here in southern Quebec. We will have to see how the system holds together.

MONTREAL
In the meantime southern Quebec, including Montreal, remain and the periphery of a dome of hot and humid air. Temperatures soared to above 32C (90F) over many portions of the central and eastern US on Monday. Montreal on the other hand could do no better than 24C (75F). We will likely see the same weather today but with an increase in moisture with showers and thunderstorms scattered about starting this morning and lasting into the late afternoon. Skies will clear out this evening but temperatures will be cooler overnight with a low of 12C (54F). Wednesday looks sunny but cool again, only reaching 22C (72F) for a high.