Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Heat Advisories Through the Weekend

Now that the rains have ended, at least for another week or so, the heat and humidity will be the main weather issue through the weekend and well into next week. All the recent moisture will keep our dew point temperatures well into the 70s which, together with afternoon temperatures rising into the mid-upper 90s, will only drop the relative humidity to around 50% during the heat of the day. That will result in a dangerous combination of heat and humidity as heat index values will at times reach the 110 mark.

Notice the first map which has the max/min temperatures for today across the state, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. Despite full sunshine today and the time of year, there are not many triple digits across the state. That is due to the abundant moisture which tends to mitigate the heating, somewhat, although the heat/humidity combination more than makes up for that.

Speaking of which, notice the max heat index so far today, which is the next map, and you can see that most locations are well above triple digits - and some made it to 110 or more. That is in dangerous territory which is why heat advisories and/or warnings are in effect.

Little change is expected for this weekend and the first part of next week as we will keep abundant sunshine each day with only a few clouds and no mention of showers with the possible exception of the hills of extreme E OK into adjacent Arkansas. Our winds will be relatively light with southerly winds of 8-15 mph during the day and less at night. So, not too much in the way of ventilation provided by those southerly breezes either.

However, as you can see on our forecast page, this heat wave looks to be relatively short lived as another pattern change is expected by the latter part of next week; that is when the ridge of high pressure aloft moves further to the west placing us in a NW flow pattern in the upper levels of the atmosphere. That, in turn, means at least a possibility of scattered showers or storms. More importantly, that also will result in some relief with daytime highs in the lower 90s for the most part and a more easterly wind flow as a weak frontal boundary should be dropping into the state.

As you can see on the 8-14-day outlook maps, this pattern change is expected to persist into that first week of August with near to perhaps even slightly below normal temperatures during that period. Also, the signal suggests a more active pattern with periodic chances of showers/storms during that time frame as well.

Keep in mind this is the end of July and the first part of August we are talking about, so near normal still translates into low-mid 90s during the day and heat index values likely into triple digits. But, so far at least we have not had a triple digit temperature and just maybe we can avoid one this coming week as well.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot