Tuesday Night Update

From Chief Meteorologist Brandon Rector...

The searing heat continued as highs reached 99 to 105 across the Big Country. It also remained muggy as dewpoints sat in the upper 50s to mid 60s. We did have some isolated showers and thunderstorms develop late this afternoon. They brought some brief heavy rainfall, gusty winds, and frequent lightning to portions of the area. The kind of activity we saw today can't be ruled out for the next few days, but better chances are coming later this week.

It looks like we will continue to see very hot temperatures through the end of the work week. The upper level high pressure ridge should hold strong in our area until the weekend. Highs the next three days will be in the upper 90s to a little over 100. With heat index values expected to be near 105 and overnight lows in the 75 to 80 range, most of the area is under a heat advisory until 7 p.m. Thursday. The counties in the advisory are: Knox, Haskell, Throckmorton, Jones, Shackelford, Stephens, Taylor, Callahan, Eastland, Coleman, Brown, and Comanche. Please continue to follow the necessary precautions in order to protect yourself from the heat. These include taking breaks in the air conditioning or shade, wearing light-colored and loose fitting clothing, and drinking plenty of water. Also be sure you are taking care of your pets.

Changes should be on the way this weekend. The cold front that I talked about yesterday that looked like it would be stalling north of the area should be stalling south of the viewing area. It is expected to arrive on Saturday. This should cool highs down into the low to mid 90s which is about where we expect to be this time of year. Some showers and thunderstorms will be possible too. That chance is 20% right now, but could increase as we get closer to that time period. Keep your fingers crossed that this solution pans out for us because we need more rain and a break from this extreme heat.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!