Warm and humid weather to persist into the weekend - Beryl eyes Texas coast

The death toll across the Caribbean region has reach eight in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. The once category 5 storm levelled the Grenadian Island of Carriacou (above) with widespread, catastrophic damage. A weakening Beryl was located over the Yucatan region of Mexico on Friday afternoon, expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico later tonight and threaten the lower Texas coast by late Sunday. (Loop Caribbean News Photo)

Numerous temperature records for daytime highs and even overnight lows were established in June in Montreal and across parts of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. That trend is persisting into July. We have had quite a warm and muggy start to the month, with daytime highs just shy of 30C each day at Trudeau Airport. Relative humidity levels have also been creeping up the last few days and conditions are rather uncomfortable Friday afternoon, with a humidex value 32C (90F) as I write this blog.

The upcoming weekend will follow the trend set so far this summer, with showers and thunderstorms expected. It will not be a washout however, with the main threat for precipitation overnight into the early morning hours Saturday, as well as later in the day. Temperatures will remain warm, in the high 20s through the weekend and into next week. 

After the passage of a cool front Sunday, slightly less humid air will be in place for Monday. However this will not last long, as moist air streams northward once again by mid-week. We will have to watch the oppressive heat and humidity that is building across the United States along both coasts to see how far north it moves. Temperatures across the Prairies, southern Alberta and interior British Columbia will rise into the 30s to near 40C in some cases this weekend and into next week.

The official National Hurricane Center forecast track for Beryl this weekend, taking the hurricane from the tourist region of the Yucatan Peninsula northwest into the lower Texas coast by late Sunday. Beryl remains a dangerous storm, with an elevated risk for surge and fresh water flooding for south Texas, spreading well inland. (NHC)

Hurricane Beryl

We will also need to monitor the remains of Hurricane Beryl as it moves inland over Texas by late Sunday. On Friday afternoon, Beryl was located inland over the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, with 140km/h winds. The storm was moving to the west northwest at 26km/h with a central pressure of 980mb. The center was located 1095 kilometres east southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Beryl has been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane after pounding Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. As the center moves well inland over Mexico, it should weaken to a tropical storm before re-emerging back over the Gulf of Mexico early Saturday. Some intensification is now forecast before landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast by late Sunday or Monday.