Hot the next few days. Rain chances increase later this week. Tropics active again soon.

It is warm and dry across the Tennessee Valley this Monday afternoon. High pressure nearby and mostly sunny skies are allowing temperatures to warm into the low to middle 90s for many of us. With dewpoints near or over 70, heat index values are creeping up into the triple digits in spots as well.

Don't expect any rain across the area for the next day or so. Skies stay mostly sunny and partly cloudy today, and that continues for your Tuesday. Afternoon highs tomorrow top out a touch warmer than they are today.

Rain chances start to come back into the picture for the middle and latter part of the week though as high pressure shifts to our east and moisture deepens across the area. Storms stay fairly isolated on Wednesday, but rain chances increase a good bit on Thursday as a disturbance moves through the area.

Temperatures also take a step back as we head into the second half of the work week. After climbing into the middle 90s for midweek, we look to return to the upper 80s in time for Thursday and Friday, and even the mid 80s for the weekend. This seems to be the pattern we have had for the last several weeks... hot a week, below average the next week, and then right back hot the week after that.

The tropics have temporarily relaxed a little after getting Grace and Henri out of the picture. However, there are several waves out there we are watching carefully. There are no less than three of them that have at least a "medium" chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm over the next five days. There are not yet any imminent threats to the United States, but we are watching carefully. It looks like the tropics will be heating up quickly as we approach the end of the month and heading into September, right on time for the climatological peak of the hurricane season.