Heat ridge is building in. 90s are on the way. Watching the tropics already?

It's been an awesome weather day across the Tennessee Valley on this Thursday. Everyone has warmed into the low to mid 80s areawide, but dewpoints in the upper 50s and lower 60s and a breezy south wind are keeping it comfortably warm outside. This is only the start of the warm weather that we have ahead of us.

Looking across the nation, clouds and rain have shifted off to mainly the west of the Mississippi River in response to high pressure building in from the east. This is allowing temperatures to warm significantly over the eastern third of the nation, with widespread 80s and almost 90 degrees as far north as upstate New York this afternoon! Meanwhile, in association with troughing in the Northwest, late season snow is flying in portions of Montana today!

Temperatures only go up from here as the ridge of high pressure continues to become established over the eastern United States. We will be in the upper 80s for Friday, and in the lower 90s over the weekend and through at least the first half of next week. We might even be in the mid 90s in a few spots by Monday or Tuesday! It's gonna be a great weekend to fire up the grill, jump in the pool, or maybe make some homemade ice cream or popsicles!

We are also watching a disturbance over the North Atlantic that is trying to obtain subtropical or tropical characteristics. The National Hurricane Center gives this a high chance of tropical development over the next few days. If that happens, the first name on the list this year is "Ana". The good news is that this will have NO impact on the United States at any point going forward.