We're now a week into the summer season, and the heat is on. Though daytime highs in most cases have actually been near or below normal, hot and humid conditions are leading to heat indices well into the 90s and 100s. This hot weather will continue for another day before a couple of rounds of thunderstorms roll through Monday night into Tuesday and then Tuesday afternoon and evening into Wednesday and further drop the high temperatures.
Humid conditions, indicated by high dewpoint temperatures, are leading to high head index values. To illustrate this role, let us examine the graphic to the right, which contains maps provided by the Oklahoma Mesonet. The map in the left of the graphic shows the high temperatures from today (Sunday). As you can see, highs were generally in the low-90s for central and eastern Oklahoma, although a few spots did not even make it out of the 80s, especially farther towards the north. On the contrary, highs reached the mid-to-upper-90s with a few spots even reporting the low-100s across western Oklahoma and the panhandle. Now we take a look at the maximum apparent temperature for the day by examining the map in the right of the graphic. Despite highs only in the 90s across the state, temperatures felt like they reached the triple-digits across a majority of Oklahoma, with heat indices in the low-to-mid-100s. You may notice that the panhandle reported a lower maximum apparent temperature than the rest of the state. We'll explain why in just a minute.
So why the high heat indices? Let us now look at the map to the left. This shows the current dewpoint temperature depression as of 8:55 PM CDT Sunday. The dewpoint depression is the difference between the dewpoint temperature and actual air temperature. If the dewpoint depression is low, then the actual air temperature and dewpoint temperature are close to one another, indicating the environment is close to saturation. An environment close to saturation (or at saturation) will feel humid because there is more water vapor in the air. If the environment is saturated, then the dewpoint temperature will equal the actual air temperature, and the dewpoint depression will equal zero. On the other hand, if the environment is not close to saturation or dry, then the dewpoint temperature and air temperature can be far apart from one another, with very large dewpoint depression values. This is occurring in the panhandle. You'll notice much higher dewpoint depression values in the panhandle because the air is dry here. This means that the heat indices will not be as high but actual high temperatures will be higher.CURRENT CONDITIONS
Air Temperature
Dewpoint Temperature
So now that we've talked about heat and humidity, let's look at the forecast. Monday will present a similar story as today with humidity as a concern leading to dangerous heat indices across the state except for the panhandle where the air is much drier. Because of the drier air, however, actual daytime high temperatures will soar to the upper-90s and lower-100s for the panhandle on Monday. High temperatures will also reach the upper-90s and lower-100s for western Oklahoma as well. Across central Oklahoma expect highs in the mid-90s, and across eastern Oklahoma expect highs in the low-90s. However, heat indices will range from 105 to 108 degrees across much of northern and central Oklahoma and 100 to 105 degrees elsewhere. This is now the time to remember your heat safety tips, especially if you plan to be outdoors for an extended period of time. The National Weather Service in Norman, OK has compiled a few tips to help keep you safe during the heat:
Into the beginning of next week, a trough will situate itself over the eastern half of the country. A result of this will be a front that will stall out across northern Oklahoma Monday night, leading to thunderstorm development along the front southward into Oklahoma. Some of the storms could be strong to severe, with threats of hail to the size of golf balls, damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph, and locally heavy rainfall that will lead to flash flooding. The setup for Tuesday evening overnight into Wednesday will be the same, with scattered showers and thunderstorms developing along the stalled frontal boundary. Storms again have the potential to be severe, with hail, damaging wind gusts, and locally heavy rainfall being the main threats. While the main severe potential will end after Wednesday morning, a chance for showers and thunderstorms remains in the forecast through Friday. By the weekend, the chance for showers and thunderstorms diminishes, allowing for a pleasant Fourth of July holiday weekend.Along with the storms, high temperatures will begin to plummet starting Tuesday. Highs in the panhandle may not even make it out of the 70s! By Wednesday and Thursday, much of the state will see highs in the mid-to-upper-80s, with highs in the lower-90s across extreme southern Oklahoma. Highs will eventually rebound back to near normal by the Fourth of July weekend.
AC
Sources: NWS, SPC, AMS, Mesonet
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