Heat Advisories Through the Weekend.

The showers/storms that occurred early this morning over the more northern counties did drop some decent rainfall totals for some locations as you can see on the rainfall map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet.  That system also produced some rain cooled air which had quite an impact on our daytime high temperatures.  Notice the second map which shows the max/min temperatures for today and the 80s in NE OK are quite a contrast to the triple digits further south.  Of course, that is only part of the story as the combination of heat and humidity reached dangerous levels with heat index values as high as 110 or more for some locations which you can see on the third map.

Unfortunately, those dangerously high heat index values will be an issue in the days ahead as a heat dome will be building over the state through the coming weekend.

However, before that happens we will have one more shot at some showers or storms for late this evening into the night tonight as the remnants of a weak boundary that pushed southward is still hanging around.  The most likely areas for any storms tonight will be more to the SE and after that, our chances of rain will be in the slim to none category going through the weekend.

Lots more sunshine in the days ahead should push daytime temperatures into the mid 90s on Thursday and the mid-upper 90s on Friday.  As you can see on our forecast page, it still looks like our first triple digit days of the year will occur this weekend.  We may reach triple digits in some areas on Friday but there is some question about our winds as the weak boundary referenced above may still be bouncing back and forth across this part of the state.  That system is creating havoc with the wind forecast and also will impact how hot we will ultimately be on any given day.  By Sat/Sun though that boundary should be gone with a more S or even SW wind on Sunday which is why I am targeting that day for legitimate triple digit temperatures.  Also, hopefully the dew point temperature will drop off somewhat by then, but the heat index will still be in dangerous territory.

After that, the longer range guidance is consistency bringing a surface front through the area during the day Monday with a more NE to E wind for several days after that.  Right now it appears the capping inversion aloft will keep us dry with that boundary but the wind shift should knock temperatures back down to at least seasonal levels.

Looking further down the road, the 8-14 day guidance keeps us basically dry through that time period along with above normal temperatures.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot