Hot weather continues this week. Rain chances late in the weekend and then "cooler" temps return.
Another sunny and hot day rolls on across the Tennessee Valley with temperatures already in the low to almost middle 90s areawide, and heat index values ranging from the mid 90s to the lower 100s already... and we're not even all the way to 11:00 am as of the time of this blog post. With high pressure at the surface and aloft near our area, there is barely a cloud in the sky, and the nearest rain to us is either off the East Coast and moving away, or it's in Kansas and Missouri near a cold front and expected to stay north of us.
Mostly sunny skies continue through the afternoon with highs ranging from the mid 90s in the naturally "cooler" spots we have around the viewing area, to as high as 100 or 101 in northwest Alabama, northeast Mississippi, and a few locations in southern Tennessee, like Columbia and parts of Hardin County like Savannah and Walnut Grove. Skies stay mostly clear to partly cloudy as we head into the evening and overnight, with temperatures eventually dropping toward the low to mid 70s for overnight lows. Clouds increase a bit overnight as a weak frontal boundary moves through, but it appears that any showers from the north fizzle out tonight before they ever make it into our area.
That frontal boundary is south of us on Thursday, reinforcing drier air across our area. Temperatures do step down a few degrees into Thursday and Friday because of that, with daytime highs in the low to mid 90s. We start to get Gulf moisture moving back over the weekend though, and with warmer temperatures (mid to upper 90s temporarily return), heat index values also climb over 100 degrees again. We look to stay dry on Saturday, but as a cold front approaches on Sunday, that increases the chances of scattered showers and thunderstorms for the afternoon and overnight, possibly lingering into parts of Monday. Behind the front, cooler air is waiting for us for at least the first part of next week. Afternoon highs return to the low to mid 80s as early as Monday!