Ozone Alert/Heat Advisories; But Relief Is On The Way.

Once again, spotty showers and storms have dropped some locally heavy rains for some lucky folks this afternoon as you can see on the statewide rainfall map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet.  Those showers/storms are falling apart as I write and the late night hours should be dry.

[img]

At least there was enough cloud cover along with the spotty showers and storms to keep temperatures somewhat in check as there were no triple digits anywhere across the state. 

[img]

However, the combination of heat and humidity pushed heat index values well over 100 and in fact over 105 in many locations.  That prompted the good folks at the local NWS office to issue heat advisories again this afternoon and much the same can be expected for Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.  In other words, little or no break in the heat and humidity for the next several days except for the brief cooling from a few isolated showers/storms.  And, as you can see on our forecast page, those will be even fewer and further between with only a few, very isolated storms for Wednesday and perhaps not even that on Thursday.

[img]

With that in mind, we will also have more sunshine on those two days which should push our daytime highs to near triple digits and heat index values approaching 110 for some locations.  As mentioned, that will prompt heat advisories.  Along with that comes very light southerly winds so not much ventilation provided by the wind nor much dispersion.  That, in turn, means an Ozone Alert has been issued for Wednesday for the Tulsa urban environment.  We will not be getting much relief at night either with overnight lows in the upper 70s to near 80.

But, all that will be changing as we go through the day Friday and in particular for the coming weekend.  Actually, Friday will also be hot and humid but a rather vigorous cool front for this time of year still looks to arrive late in the day or more likely that night.  That will bring with it a good chance of showers and storms for late Friday into the morning hours of Saturday.  Given the time of year, that boundary will likely stall out over far S OK over the course of the weekend with lingering showers/storms possible along with more cloud cover.  As a result, the 7 day QPF is now showing a wetter signal so a good soaking is certainly possible for many locations.

[img]

Not only that, but the NE winds behind the front together with some cooling showers and more cloud cover will give us a nice break in the heat for the weekend going into early next week.  Daytime highs will likely be confined to the 80s and we should even see overnight lows dropping into the 60s during that time frame.

Commonly during August, any breaks in the heat are short-lived but this time it looks like it should extend into the 8-14 day time period.  Notice the outlook suggests temperatures averaging a bit below normal so a return to triple digits does not appear likely any time soon.  That is, after we get past the next few days.

[img]

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot