And the Heat Goes On....But for How Much Longer?

The showers and storms of late yesterday were slow movers and dropped some locally heavy rainfall as the map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, shows. Some of the radar estimated totals were in excess of 3 inches, but for the most part the rains were rather spotty and most of us missed out. Unfortunately, our chances of any rainfall of significance for the coming week are pretty much in the slim to none category. Notice the second map on the right which has the 7 day QPF estimate and it is obvious that our state will be pretty much high and dry through that time period.

Since our rain chances will be minimal for this forecast period, then our attention turns to temperatures. Ridging aloft will be the dominant feature going into the weekend which is one of the reasons why there will be little or no chance of rain. But, that also means lots of sunshine and at this time of year that in turn means the heat will be building. As mentioned in earlier blogs, the first half of the month was about 4 degrees cooler than normal, but temperatures during the coming week will try to make up for that mild start.

We are now into the time frame in which temperatures normally start their seasonal slide into fall and winter. After several weeks in which the normal daytime high was 94, it is now 93 and by the end of the month will be 90. But, we will be 3-5 degrees above normal for the rest of this week going into the weekend and may even see some triple digit temperatures during that time frame. Notice the max/min temperatures that were recorded today on the OK Mesonet as shown on the third map which will serve as a pretty good indicator of where we will be again tomorrow and for the next few days.

By the way, so far this warm season, we have only had 3 triple digit temperatures officially at the Tulsa International Airport and most of the surrounding locations have not had any at all. So, this will certainly be a late summer heat wave.

At least our dew point temperatures have been a bit lower than projected with values generally running in the mid-60s. That means the minimum relative humidity during the heat of the day has been a little more tolerable with values in the low 30% range this afternoon for example. That in turn means the heat index is only running a few degrees above the actual air temperature. However, southerly breezes of 5-15 for the rest of the week may get those dew point temperatures closer to 70 which will make the heat and humidity correspondingly more uncomfortable. In fact, triple digit heat index values are anticipated each afternoon right on through the weekend and may even reach the dangerous 105+ range.

The extended outlook keeps us at or above normal with respect to temperatures through the end of the month. So, stay cool, stay tuned, and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot