Hey… progress! After it broke 110 F in parts of Texas the last few days, it’s cooling off! “Cooling” is, of course, a relative term. If you consider 100-105 F as “cooler”, you would be right! I have no idea how many days in a row Texas cities have been baked this summer, but I know it’s way more than usual. This heat wave and associated heat dome, centered over Texas, will start to move northward which will allow gradually “cooler” air to move into the state along with a slightly higher threat of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Highs by this weekend into next week may not reach 100 F! That should hopefully ease the strain on the power grid that ERCOT has been crowing about.
Meanwhile in the rest of the nation, particularly the Great Lakes and the Northeast, it’s comfortable. 100+ heat and humidity is nowhere to be found. It made another 1-2 day appearance a few days ago but the cold front kicked it out. Next several days look nice with only minor shower threats.
That cold front that blew through the Great Lakes and the Northeast is going where cold fronts washout and die in the summer… the Southeast. Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi is where higher than normal chances of afternoon and evening thunderstorms can be found over the next several days. The heat and humidity will be there, but it will be typical heat and humidity. Not many temperatures above 95 F and not many dewpoints approaching 80 F… but it will be hot and humid enough.
The intermountain west is seeing its share of afternoon and evening monsoon thunderstorms, and the pattern will lend itself to this more over the next several days, with the heat dome moving north out of Texas into the Great Plains and more of an easterly to southeasterly flow developing. That’s the flow that brings in the monsoon moisture and thunderstorms this time of year. With a disturbance moving through Montana this afternoon and evening, there will be the best chance for wind damage and/or hail with these storms.
That’s the weather for today! Please be sure to follow me on social media for more weather!
Rich
