Hot Again, Humidity Rising As Well

For the first time this year, Tulsa has officially made it into the 90s; in fact the max/min so far today has been 93/65 as recorded at the airport.  To put this in perspective, the normal range at this time of year is 86/66. As you can see on the statewide max/min temperature map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, 90s were pretty common across the state today.

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Fortunately, the air is still rather dry and the relative humidity has dropped off to a low of 38% this afternoon as our dew point temperature has held around the 63-65 degree mark.  Unfortunately, that will not be the case in the days ahead as dew point temperatures will be gradually rising into the upper 60s and perhaps even the lower 70s.  That means the discomfort level will also be on the rise and the heat index may approach triple digits over the course of the weekend.

However, temperatures will be leveling off as you can see on our forecast page.  A southerly breeze will bring those higher dew points back into the area which means overnight lows will range from the upper 60s to the lower 70s starting tonight and continuing into early next week.  Afternoon temperatures each day will be back into the lower 90s along with a brisk southerly wind providing a little more ventilation than we had today.  The additional moisture brought in by those winds will also produce a few more clouds in the sky but mostly sunny to at times partly cloudy skies will be the general rule.

Ridging aloft will keep any chance of a cooling shower/storm pretty much in the slim to none category through the weekend.  Cannot rule out one or two very isolated storms over the more terrain favored locations such as developed late this afternoon, but the chances are still minimal.

As we go into next week, the upper level ridge will break down allowing for some weak disturbances to approach from the west.  That will be a more favorable pattern for at least some scattered showers or storms going into next week, but again the chances look to be rather low.  However, due to the slow movement of anything that does form the potential for some locally heavy rains will exist.  Notice the 7 day QPF map for example and keep in mind this does not suggest that rains will be widespread, just that if it does rain there is the potential for some locations to receive an inch or more in a short period of time.

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Beyond that time frame, the 8-14 day outlook continues to suggest temperatures will be warmer than normal and any organized showers or storms appear very unlikely.  A few scattered showers or storms will be possible during that time frame due to the daytime heating and the available moisture, but nothing widespread is currently foreseen.

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By the way, in case you were wondering, back in 1993 it took all the way to June 16 to reach our first 90 degree temperature of the year and just last year our first 90 did not occur till Jun 4.

Dick Faurot