Heat Wave Ahead

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HEATING UP: An upper ridge will form right on top of us in coming days, and most likely that will mean the hottest weather so far this year by the end of the week and the weekend.

We are forecasting a high in the mid 90s today with a good supply of sunshine this morning, followed by only isolated showers and storms this afternoon. The chance of any one spot getting wet later today is only about one in eight.

We rise into the mid to upper 90s tomorrow, followed by upper 90s Thursday and Friday. While there is always some risk of an afternoon storm on a hot summer day, the warm air aloft will keep a lid on the atmosphere, meaning most places will be dry. I do believe there is adequate soil moisture so that heat levels won’t get over 100 in most places, but 98 or 99 is certainly hot enough.

THE WEEKEND: Not much change; highs in the upper 90s with only an outside risk of any one neighborhood seeing a passing shower or thunderstorm.

NEXT WEEK: A mid latitude upper trough will beat the ridge down a bit by early next week, which should mean decreasing heat levels and a better chance of scattered showers and storms as a surface boundary approaches from the north late Monday. The GFS drops the high on Monday down into the low 90s at 92.

TROPICS: We are watching the disturbance near Puerto Rico with interest; upper air winds should be a little more favorable for development in coming days, and come models bring this through the Florida Straights, just north of Cuba, and into the Gulf in about 4 days. We note the GFS turns the system more northward toward the East Coast of Florida. Watch the Weather Xtreme video for more details. The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We have a special time for this week’s show; we will begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT, and you can watch/listen live on uStream here. This week’s guests are Jim Cantore and Mish Michaels; should be a fun show.

FOLLOW ALONG: Here are our weather team Twitter accounts….

SEVEN DAY FORECAST: We have had some changes on the abc3340.com site… if you are looking for the seven day forecast page, you can now find it right here.

Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 or so this afternoon. Enjoy the day!

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