Gradual Warming Trend.

Independence Day is looking pretty good with only a very slight chance of a shower or storm.  Temperatures will be climbing back to more seasonable levels over the coming days as well.

Wednesday, July 3rd 2013, 4:10 pm

By: News On 6

It has been more than two weeks now since we have received any rain of consequence and unfortunately, our prospects over the coming week are not very promising. Notice the QPF map on the right, valid through this coming Wed morning. Pretty obvious that our rain chances are in the slim to none category through that time frame. That is not to say that an isolated shower or storm will not occur, just that the areal coverage of any measurable rainfall will be minimal.

By the way, that applies to Independence Day as well. Model data continues to suggest a few isolated showers/storms will be possible, but the areal coverage is such that only about a 10% chance of a shower or storm may occur at any one location. Same thing for Friday, and after that the chances are even less.

At least we have been enjoying some unseasonably mild weather for these first few days of July. That will not be lasting much longer so enjoy it while you can. Our winds have returned to a more SE direction today and a stronger southerly breeze is anticipated over the weekend and into the coming week. That will result in warmer nights, warmer days, and increasing humidity levels.

The last couple of mornings have seen some record breaking low temperatures for this time of year with records broken in McAlester and Fayetteville. Fair skies tonight and light winds will result in another relatively cool start to Thursday with upper 50s to lower 60s expected. Friday morning will start off in the mid 60s and then we should be back into the 70s going into early next week.

During the day, our string of sub-90 degree weather will be coming to an end soon with upper 80s on Independence Day and near 90 on Friday. Lower 90s are then expected going into the following week. Keep in mind that low 90s are the norm at this time of year and so far we do not see any suggestions of triple digit heat coming our way through next week at least.

However, if we don't get some rain soon then we may well be dealing with some triple digit heat beyond this forecast period. With the rest of July and all of August still ahead of us, we can only hope to catch some occasional showers/storms to keep things from drying out and heating up too much.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot