The Heat is On

No, I'm not talking about Miami…. I'm hoping that Heat is suppressed in Game 4! However, our summer-like pattern is only going to amplify in the coming days as a strong ridge of a high pressure builds overhead, creating a heat dome of sorts. Summer officially begins on Wednesday, the summer solstice, but as far as we're concerned, we've rounded the corner from spring and are well into the new season.

There is little hope of any rain in the coming days as well. While our drought situation is not too carried away, the heat, gusty south winds, and continued sunshine will rapidly deplete our ground of moisture. When that happens, there is less humidity to deal with, but our actual temperatures can soar in response to that. Does that mean our first triple-digit day is just around the corner? Not necessarily. But we are marching that way, and later in the week, our heat index values could be near the century-mark.

Some tropical moisture will try and surge north from Texas and Louisiana through midweek, giving us some additional clouds, but little if any rain. Then a weak cold front may push just far enough south to bring a few showers and thunderstorms near the Oklahoma-Kansas border on Thursday. Those are the only morsels of relief from the heat that will come our way.

A ridge in the jet stream, even stouter than before, will build over the heartland of the country this upcoming weekend. That will likely usher in the hottest air of the season with highs in the mid to upper 90s. Breaking a sweat yet? Well, the map above shows that through at least the next 10 days, temperatures will likely remain well above-normal. At least we're not alone. Record-setting heat is on tap for parts of the country from Colorado to the Eastern seaboard. We might even have 100º readings in the Front Range of Colorado today! It looks like we'll all be sweating out the upcoming week together.

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