More Than Just Summer Heat Ahead This Week

In the wake of our weekend storms came the most refreshing air in quite a while! Dew point temperatures dropped to 60° or lower and allowed for a nice cool morning to start off this work week. Summer begins Tuesday and our temperatures will rise accordingly, and eventually that moisture will follow suit. Before our soaring temperatures get carried away, a tropical storm and a cold front may intervene here in parts of Oklahoma. Those two features plus a massive heat ridge in the Southwest are the three big weather features this week.

                Tuesday will be the longest day of the year in terms of daylight as it is our summer solstice. The sun’s rays will be at their highest angle, allowing for fast sunburns and a big daytime jump in readings. Back into the 90s we’ll go for afternoon highs through the end of the work week before our temperatures reverse course. We are at the fringe of a major heat ridge centered over the Southwest U.S. where temperatures may reach 120°!  Fortunately, without much Gulf moisture returning to our area, the heat index won’t be all that different than our actual temperatures.

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                The second big weather feature we are watching is a newly formed (and newly coined term by the National Hurricane Center) Potential Tropical Cyclone #3. This is a precursor to the full formation of what will be Tropical Storm Cindy.  Weak steering winds will allow this system to meander northward for a few days before sliding into the coastline. While wind shear may keep this system from reaching full hurricane status, it’s going to impact the U.S. coastline, likely in Texas and Louisiana with gusty winds, some coastal surge and flooding rains. It won’t be the best week at the beach that direction! Exactly where the system goes from there is not nailed down and some of our computer models take the center of the system very close to southeast Oklahoma. At that point, it would mainly just be a heavy rain threat, but it’s likely to have some impact on our late week weather. Our winds may turn more easterly, cloud cover could increase and it may delay the third weather feature of our week, another strong cold front.

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                That cold front will be steered by a fast-moving, but strong trough in the jet stream to our north. If the Tropical Storm gets closer to us, it will likely hold back the forward progress of the front (arriving Sunday). If the Tropical Storm takes a more easterly path into the Deep South, that cold front will likely come through the region more readily and earlier (Friday night). Either way, storm chances return for our weekend with the front’s arrival followed by a significant cool-down for this time of year. We might even end up with a day that only tops out in the 70s!

                The end of the month will come with near or below normal temperatures as a result of our weekend storm system. Heat will gradually build back as we head towards the end of the month more than likely, but it’ll be a reprieve from brutal heat.  I doubt we have heat index values much over 100° for quite a while!

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                Enjoy all this daylight while we have it! Just be sure to mind the sun’s powerful rays. For more weather updates on Soon-to-be-Cindy and our weekend storm potential, be sure to follow me on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and on my Facebook Page.