Light At The End Of The Tunnel?
It's that time of year my buddy, Chad Gardner, calls "stupid hot", but let's put 2018 into perspective. So far this summer, it really hasn't been that bad compared to previous years.
While the actual air temperature will likely stay below 100° today, the heat index will reach 105 to 110° and will likely be the hottest so far this year. You can thank recent rains and the wet ground for that added moisture. It will be dangerous heat for sure!
The NAM (North American Model) at one point had our high temperature reaching 102° today and I didn't buy that. We'll see what happens today, but it has backed off of that. Now it has a temperature Friday of 105°. I don't buy that either. If we did NOT have the rain this week, I would think it's possible. However, the suns energy will go into evaporation. Once again, with all that soil moisture, heat index values will likely get close to 110°.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. A northwesterly wind flow aloft will continue over the next few days. I have learned that as long you are under that type of pattern, never take rain chances out of the forecast. While it won't be constant, storms will be possible over the next few days and probably favoring the northeastern half of the state. That's the area furthest from the hot center of high pressure.
The northwesterly flow will become even more established with the ridge building across the western United States. This will allow a trough of low pressure to develop across the central and eastern United States. A couple cool front will come down this weekend and into next week and beat back the heat. This is remarkable considering late July and early August is typically the hottest time of the year according to the 30 year averages. Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. After a couple sizzling summer days, we'll go into a cooler than average pattern. This will take us into August with 1 more month of meteorological summer to go. Then we can bring on fall and FOOTBALL!!!!!!
