UPDATE: SUNDAY (5/20):Alberto continues to spin in the Atlantic off the South Carolina coast as the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season gets off to an early start. The storm, with sustained winds of 50-mph, is moving slowly west-southwest at 6-mph, but is expected to re-curve to the northeast over the coming 24-48 hours. At 8 am, EDT, Alberto was centered near 31.7 N and 79.3 W, or about 95 miles south-southeast of Charleston,

With six more days left in April and the prospects for significant rain looking fairly modest for the foreseeable future, the question is: are we headed back to a drier pattern?

With March almost over, we are on track to have the warmest January through March since 2000.

A stagnant weather pattern will mean that mostly cloudy skies, periods of fog and mild temperatures will continue through most of this week. As such, no significant changes in our local weather are anticipated until late Friday and Saturday when a cold front clears skies out and brings seasonably cool temperatures.

SECOND UPDATE: 7:20 am (1/31/12): As I suspected when I posted the first update yesterday, the GFS model has backed off of its forecast yesterday of a major Arctic outbreak in 10 days and now shows no hint of really frigid air making its way this far south.

Although we have one more day before we say goodbye to December and to 2011, it is not too soon to state that December, 2011 has been a very good month weather-wise. This is especially gratifying, given the generally poor weather for the year overall. For one, this December will go in the record books as the only month this year with above-normal precipitation, with 4.41" reported through December 30. This makes it the first month since November, 2010 to have more rain than average.

December is one of those months in southeast Texas that can bring about any kind of weather imaginable. Quite often, the same month can bring everything from Arctic like chill to tropical like warmth. Likewise, December weather can vary considerably from year to year.

Despite its "scary" image and childhood memories of windy, chilly or wet Halloween evenings, most Halloweens in Galveston turn out to be quite placid, weather-wise.

The skies flickered with lightning and boomed with thunder over much of the County yesterday evening, but when all was said and done, rainfall amounts were hardly equal to the night-time display.

Normally, as the month comes to an end I would be writing about the fact that August, 2011 will go into the record books as the hottest month ever in Galveston since observations began in 1871. With an 88.5 degree average through August 29, 2011 is destined to shatter the previous August record of 87.3 degrees set just last year. In fact, the summer of 2011 (June through August) will become the hottest summer ever here.

UPDATE: 1:00 pm-Tropical Storm Don continues its trek towards the south Texas coast with a landfall projected between Corpus Christi and Brownsville tonight. At 1 pm, CDT, Don was centered near 26.5 N and 95.6 W (or about 145 miles southeast of Corpus Christi). Sustained winds have remained at 50-mph. Barometric pressure has risen to 1004 MB, indicating that much intensification is unlikely before the system moves into deep south Texas. Don was moving west-northwest at 15-mph. Meanwhile, a disturbance in the Atlantic (AL 91) continues to show potential for development. Early track projections suggest that this could be a problem for Puerto Rico and the Bahamas later next week.

Just as last year with Hurricane Alex, the last day of June finds a named storm making landfall on the Mexican Coast. This morning, a strong Tropical Storm Arlene is moving inland midway between Tampico and Tuxpan, Mexico near 21.6 N and 97.7 W. Sustained winds have increased to 65-mph, but should begin weakening rapidly now that the storm is ashore. Central pressure was 994 MB (29.35") at 9 am,, CDT. Arlene was moving west at 7-mph. disorganized flare-up of convection with a tropical wave east of the Windward Islands.