A Break in the Heat, but not Much Rain.

The first map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, shows the 24 hour change in the dew point temperature. As you can see, the dew point has dropped off by 10-15 degrees or so since this time yesterday. A simple definition of the dew point is that it is the temperature of saturation. The higher the dew point, the more moisture there is in the air. This becomes particularly important at this time of year when the combination of heat and humidity can become dangerous such as was the case yesterday. Although temperatures today were within a few degrees of what we had yesterday, those much lower dew point temperatures resulted in much lower humidity levels and the combination of heat and humidity was much more tolerable today than yesterday.

The cool front that passed through the state during the overnight hours did not bring much in the way of rainfall, but the northerly winds have brought in the drier air. The cooler air will be gradually filtering in over the next couple of days and you will certainly notice the difference for much of next week. In fact, temperatures during the day as well as at night will generally be below normal through the first week of July and that is not a bad thing at this time of year.

This all due to a change in the wind pattern aloft which now that it is established, will be slow to change back. In fact, the second map on the right shows a relatively strong signal that temperatures will remain below normal for much of that following week as well. All in all, not a bad start to the month of July. Typically, a pattern such as this will also be more unsettled with decent chances of showers/storms throughout the period. Right now, that does not appear to be the case with only isolated showers/storms at best through the weekend and into next week. Later next week, possibly in time for Independence Day, we may see an increase in our rain chances but for now the chances are in the slim to none category each day.

So, enjoy the milder conditions that will characterize not only this weekend but the first two weeks of July. We still have the rest of July and all of August so there is still plenty of potential for hot weather ahead of us.

As always, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot