Friday will be a very hot day, even a little hotter than Thursday with highs reaching the mid to upper 90s. There looks to be enough going on to perhaps spark a few thunderstorms in the area late in the afternoon or in the evening. Breezes should go to the southeast on Saturday and remain in that general direction into next week. This will allow high temperatures to ease down into the low 90s by Sunday.
Tropics:
The remnants of Erin are causing unwanted heavy rain in south-central Texas.
The main story is Hurricane Dean, currently just east of the Lesser Antilles island chain. Dean is moving quickly west and will pass into the Eastern Caribbean Sea on Friday. The storm is up to a Category 2 with near 100 mph max winds. More strengthening is likely as it move west or west-northwest across the Caribbean this weekend into early next week. Conditions appear to be favorable for this to be at least a Category 4 as it moves into the Western Caribbean Sunday and Monday. As for where it goes beyond that, it may move across the Yucatan Peninsula and then make a second landfall in mainland Mexico, or it could possibly turn more northwest and threaten areas from Texas to Louisiana. People with interests along the central and western Gulf coasts should closely monitor the storm.
