Summer Heat Cranking Up, Ozone Alert For Thursday

Rain and storm chances are leaving Green Country alone for a change, but there’s a trade-off: here comes the summer heat!

A calmer upper level jet stream pattern will lead to fewer storms and more sunshine for our Thursday, but that also means some bigger summer heat. We’re looking for highs in the lower 90s this afternoon, but thanks to some very muggy conditions we’ll have heat index values approaching 100 degrees! Stay hydrated!

In addition to the heat and humidity, an Ozone Alert is also in effect for our Thursday due to the hot conditions, sunshine, and relatively light winds. Air quality could be reduced by later in the day. If you can try to take steps to help reduce ozone emission today, like carpooling to work, waiting until late in the day to mow your yard, and waiting until late in the evening to gas up your car.

By late in the day into tonight, a few more storms will try to fire up either in far northwest Oklahoma or into southwest Kansas. These storms should weaken as they move east and right now we anticipate they’ll fall apart before moving into eastern Oklahoma early Friday morning, but there is a slim chance of a lingering shower or storm to start our Friday. After that we’ll be back to more heat and humidity on Friday with highs back in the 90s and heat index values over 100.

WARN Radar

We’ll kick off the weekend with similar heat and humidity on Saturday, but the jet stream will shift back to a stormier setup by Sunday as a weak frontal boundary moves closer. Scattered storms, some heavy, will be possible heading into Sunday morning. Then redevelopment of more widespread heavy storms is expected from late Sunday into Monday morning. Some of these could be severe, along with a flooding threat. We’ll keep you advised!

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday, Green Country! You can follow me on Twitter @StephenNehrenz as well as my Facebook page Meteorologist Stephen Nehrenz to stay up to date with the very latest!