Hot, But Not Overly Humid Today, Heat Makes Big-Time Return for the Weekend

Sun-Filled Stretch:

Have you been able to enjoy the tranquil and comfortable weather as of late? Because there's been plenty of sunshine to go around, especially during the day on Monday. With the clockwise spin of a high pressure system, the air underneath it sinks towards the surface, which helps limit cloud growth. We got a perfect example of this process yesterday and as we wake up on this Tuesday morning.

Hot Yet Again:

Under a mostly clear and smoky sky, temperatures overnight bottomed out in the low 60s, with a spot or two dropping into the upper 50s. Again, comfortable for the start of our day. The plethora of sunshine that we're waking up to will give way to partly sunny skies by mid-day. Our atmosphere will have a little more moisture to work with late in the day as a "backdoor" cold front sneaks in from the Great Lakes region. 

What makes a "backdoor" cold front different from a conventional cold front is it's movement. Instead of moving from the northwest to the southeast, "backdoor" cold fronts move from the northeast to the southwest. Guidance continues to show enough lift with this incoming front, which could lead to a late-day/early night thunderstorm or two. Otherwise, our Tuesday remains dry, hot, with highs in the upper 80s for most. Although we see slightly cooler temperatures on Wednesday thanks to this frontal boundary, the extreme heat will make a big-time return as we inch closer to the weekend.

Dog Days of Summer:

Although it's has felt hot here at home, the "hottest" air-mass continues to sit over the western United States underneath a dome of high pressure. While this "heat dome" as we call it has maintained itself over the past few days, it's expected to break down some as we approach the weekend. This will allow some of that heat and humidity to spread eastward into the Midwest, resulting in a quick jump in heat and humidity. Highs temperatures beginning Friday will be shoved into the low 90s, with dew point temperatures climbing into the low to mid 70s. YUCK! So far, 2021 has totaled 16 90-degree days. But with the dog days of summer just around the corner, we'll look to add plenty more by next week.