Turning HOT This Week

2013 seems to be a year of procrastination for the seasons.  Remember how the beginning of May started off with temperatures in the 40s across Oklahoma, how late severe weather season "officially" began, and how we seem to be off to a slow start with a predicted above-average Atlantic hurricane season?  Now here we are, less than a month away from the end of summer, with average temperatures supposed to be slowly decreasing.  However, the forecast shows just the opposite, due to a strong upper-level ridge in place over the region.  High temperatures will be unusually warm for at least the next seven days, with some high humidity levels as well.  Additionally, a healthy chance of rain is not in sight for the foreseeable future across the state, which is providing a danger to the return of extreme and exceptional drought conditions.  With the exception of a few pop-up afternoon showers here and there over the past week, the state has remained relatively dry since last Thursday evening and Friday morning when a bow echo dove southward across Oklahoma from Kansas.  These hot and dry conditions we have been enduring recently and will endure for at least the next week are more typical of an Oklahoma summer, something we should have experienced for the month of July and early August.  So, again, we are officially getting our "summer," albeit a little late to the game once again.

Perhaps we should clarify what we mean by "unusually warm."  In this sense, we are talking about highs in the upper-90s across most of the state, with the low-100s in southwest Oklahoma.  Highs, mainly in central and southern Oklahoma, will remain stagnant for at least the next several days.  In fact, as you can see from Oklahoma City's forecast, the weather just seems dull.  Across northeast Oklahoma, highs may start out in the mid-90s early in the week but increase to the upper-90s by mid-to-late week.  However, we must warn of the high humidity levels, in central Oklahoma especially.  Beware of heat indices reaching the low-100 for the duration of this mini "heat wave."

At this time, rain will be out of the question in the forecast for the week ahead as well.  The only chance at seeing rain would be if intense daytime heating and humidity are able to cause thunderstorm development.  Even so, storms would be highly isolated and short-lived.  Therefore, all areas across the state need to continue to conserve water, especially those in extreme drought conditions.  We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but an exceptional drought could be returning soon if conditions continue to remain this dry.

Source: NWS