Heading into August, Summer Heat Cranks Up

We are wrapping up a hot July on a much cooler note. Our coolest reading of the month came Tuesday morning with Tulsa dipping to 64°. This comes following four 100°+ days and heat index values in the 110s several afternoons this month. June and July collectively go down as the 16th hottest such stretch on record. Needless to say, this break in the heat is welcome by most in Green Country.

It won’t last for all that long however. The notorious heat ridge will expand back over Oklahoma by the end of the week. Before that happens, we have a few more pleasant summer days ahead. We’ll start the month of August with near-record low temperatures in the area as readings dip into the lower 60s Wednesday morning. Daytime highs will rise back to 90° or above starting that afternoon, but humidity will remain low. In fact, we don’t get much moisture return from the Gulf of Mexico until the weekend. This means we won’t have to be talking much about a heat index for a while even as temperatures continue their upward climb.

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Above is our hot weather set-up that returns late this week as cooler air retreats with the trough to our northeast. The double high pressure set-up will keep all significant storm systems and associated rain well to our north.

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That makes me even more grateful for our recent wet spell. The rainfall over the past 5 days (shown above) has been quite welcome as our usual summer dry-out begins. Most places saw a decent soaking as multiple storm complexes tore through the area. However, it was no more than a drought-denter. It’ll keep the drought from worsening for a bit. As our weather pattern really dries out, Green Country will hold onto its “greenness” a little longer. If you’ve seen our 9-Day forecast, it’s clear we’re in for a lot of clear skies and no rainfall. In fact, the long-range pattern shows little sign of any storm system arriving between now and mid-August. That will correspond to a hotter than normal pattern heading deeper into August as shown below.

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So, to summarize… summer is offering us a nice break in the heat and humidity, but both will gradually return with increasing intensity by the weekend into next week. If you’re looking for any sign of fall, give it a month!

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