Hot, Humid Weekend Into Next Week.

Although we did not set any records today, temperatures were still on the order of 10-15 degrees below normal this afternoon.  Notice the max/min temperature map for today, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, and keep in mind that our normal diurnal range at this time of year is 93/73.  The overcast skies and widespread rainfall were responsible for those mild temperatures but now that the rains are coming to an end, the more typical July heat will be returning with a vengeance.

Speaking of rainfall, notice also the rains during the course of the day today, and over the course of the last 3 days.  Needless to say, this has been a very wet period for the month of July.  The system responsible for this wet period is lifting out to the NE and will leave behind only a slight chance of a few showers for the morning hours of Friday and primarily over the more northern counties.  After that, it is pretty much a dry forecast as you can see on our forecast page.

But, with all the recent moisture and the return of mostly sunny skies, the heat and humidity will be an issue.  The extensive rain footprint from these recent rains will help hold down the maximum daytime temperatures, but the flip side of that is the combination of heat and humidity will be very uncomfortable.  Although we will not be having any triple digit air temperatures, the heat index values will be approaching triple digits for Friday and well into triple digit territory as we go through the weekend and into next week.

At least we will have a rather brisk southerly wind to provide some decent ventilation each day.  Also, there is currently no mention of any rain not only through the 7 day forecast period but as you can see on the 8-14 day outlooks, nothing organized is expected during that time period either.  Ridging aloft will be more dominant in the days ahead and will likely persist well beyond that time frame as well.  That will put an effective cap on any widespread showers or storms although cannot completely rule out one or two isolated late afternoon showers in the more terrain favored locations on any given day. 

Other than that, the next two weeks look to be drier than normal along with above normal temperatures.  In other words, things will start to dry out once again; a pattern that has been repeating itself so far this summer.  We have an extensive period of heavy rains, then it shuts off for a week or two and just when things start to get dry, another round of showers/storms returns.  Remains to be seen if we will enter another wet period by the end of this forecast cycle, but right now that does not appear very likely.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot