Brief Break Today, Hot & Humid Weather Returns.

Courtesy of the Ok Mesonet, the map on the right shows where and how much rain has been received over the last 24 hours as of early this afternoon. As you can see, some lucky folks picked up enough to do some good, but for most of us, it barely settled the dust. Those showers continue to work their way eastward and weaken with only a slight chance of re-development during the afternoon or early evening hours for this Monday.

Unfortunately, the chances of additional rainfall will be rather slim for the rest of the week. As mentioned, a few showers or storms will be possible later this afternoon and into the evening hours and there will be about a 20% chance for the Tue, Wed, and Thu time frames. That will not provide much in the way of relief but the residual moisture will keep humidity levels rather high as dew point temperatures are expected to remain well into the 60s for the next few days.

At least the clouds have kept temperatures in check for the more northern counties for much of the day although you folks along and south of I-40 did not receive much of a benefit. As a result, there is quite a north-south temperature gradient today with the showers holding the northern sections in the 80s while the more southern sections will likely be near 100. Here in Tulsa, we should see enough afternoon sunshine to make it above 90 once again. The next few days are expected to be hot and humid area wide. Daytime temperatures will be in the upper 90s to lower triple digits and heat index values will be well over 100 each day. Not much relief at night either with light southerly breezes keeping our overnight lows in the mid-upper 70s for the most part.

Another frontal boundary still looks to be arriving by early Thursday, but this looks to be rather weak with only a slight chance of rain and not much of a cool down. Instead of triple digits, at least we should be in the 90s along with more sunshine and a more E to NE surface wind going into the coming weekend.

In the tropics, Irene continues to be rather well behaved and has not pulled any major surprises so far. The forecast track has been consistent in bringing it near Florida and up the East Coast for later this week and into the weekend. That means we will not be getting any of that moisture up our way either.

So, stay cool, stay tuned, and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot