The Heat Goes On

Expecting a north to south temperature gradient across the state this afternoon due to a weak frontal boundary that will be gradually pushing southward. You can see the wind field from early this morning on the map to the right courtesy of the OK Mesonet. The more N to NE winds across the northern counties are behind the boundary and that should keep them well below 100 this afternoon. Those south of the boundary will likely make it into the 100-105 range before the day is over. Here in Tulsa, timing will be everything but the slow movement of the boundary should result in afternoon temperatures just over the triple digit mark.

A more NE wind will prevail for most of us on Sunday which should be enough to keep all but the extreme southern counties below triple digits. A more easterly wind on Monday should also be enough to keep us just below triple digits, but not for long. The boundary will be washing out allowing our winds to return to southerly which should result in triple digit heat by Tue and Wed.

The boundary and the day time heating will also provide at least a chance for some showers and thunderstorms today. The chances are only about 20%, but those storms that do form will be locally quite intense. Since this is not a very strong boundary it is not clearing out the moisture and we will maintain adequate moisture for at least a slight chance of showers or storms each of the next several days. This also means partly cloudy to at times mostly cloudy skies.

Later in the week, there are signs of a stronger cool front arriving followed by a more significant cool down. Everything is relative of course, and in this case a more significant cool down just means something closer to normal. The way this summer has gone, normal sounds down right chilly compared to what we have endured so far. By the way, the normal daytime high by the first of Sep is 89, so climatology is certainly in our favor. So far this summer, we have only had two days which were below 90 so not only has it been hot, but it has been uniformly hot almost without exception all summer long.

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

Dick Faurot