Heat, Humidity, & Storms... Laying It All Out For The Days To Come

​Let's talk about the big 3 things that are expected over the next few days. Up first, and probably most obvious, is the smoke/haze across the region. This is being driven down from Canadian wildfires, affecting visibilities along with some health concerns for those most susceptible. The good news is, this will diminish overnight tonight, but we will have to stick it out through the day today. Overall, today will feature partly cloudy to broken skies, with isolated to scattered shower/storm chances (more on this below). Highs will fair warmer, topping out near the 90 mark.

Speaking on temperatures, Mother Nature will be activating summer through Saturday. Warm and moist air will continue to pull in, raising both temperatures and the humidity. Highs tomorrow will find the low 90s for most valley locations (and possibly warmer), with heat indices more like the upper 90s and lower 100's. Given this is our first concerning heat of the year, heat safety will be a topic we will preach through the end of the week. Take frequent breaks, have a way to cool off in the A/C, and drink plenty of fluids. ​

Now it's time for the interesting and challenging part of the forecast: shower/storm chances. A strong ridge (high pressure) sits across the Lower Mississippi Valley but will traverse further east by the weekend. With this in place, a series of upper level disturbances will round the edges of the ridge and bring periodical shower and storm chances. As of right now, the first wave could be this afternoon out of west/central Kentucky. Fortunately, this potential complex of storms will weaken with the push southeast, with activity primarily late this afternoon through early tonight. Following, another complex of showers and storms will be possible Friday, mainly during the afternoon to late evening hours, with yet a third opportunity Saturday. NOTE: there remains a lot of uncertainty in the timing of this activity, and to a degree, if we see much at all on any one of the three days. These are very fine scale driven systems, something that guidance really struggles to pick up on even 12 hours out. That said, the environment will be conducive for strong to severe storms if anything forms, particularly Friday, so be weather aware. A few strong storms can't be ruled out late today as well, mainly for the plateau. Damaging wind gusts and isolated instances of large hail are the biggest threats. Lastly, with showers/storms possible additional cloud cover could hamper higher temperature potential. If activity takes longer to ramp up, temperatures may turn out a touch warmer (particularly Friday and Saturday), so also keep this in mind as well.

With lots of uncertainty in the forecast through Saturday, stay weather aware and tune back in for updates. Follow our Twitter and Facebook (@SecretCityWx) for the latest. After Saturday, a cold front approaches bringing a healthy shot of rainfall chances late weekend, with scattered activity possible thereafter early to mid week. Thankfully, we will be a bit cooler into next week (mid to upper 80s).