7/21 – Rob Martin’s “Temporary Heat Relief Tomorrow” Thursday Night Forecast

Some relief from the heat is coming Friday, but it won’t last very long. Friday afternoon heat index temps peaked at 114 in Pascagoula and 109 in Gulfport, certainly worthy of the heat advisory.
In the short term, expect another night around 80 degrees for lows. In fact, Gulfport has tied record-warm overnight temps two nights in a row now (lows of 80 and 81 degrees)

Friday sees increased cloud cover and rain chances increase to over 50% as as storms activate south of a front to our north. It could actually be fairly active Friday morning this time, thus the increased cloud cover will help to lower the temperatures slightly, perhaps removing the need for a heat advisory. With the increased rain chances there is always the chance for localized heavy amounts that could result in some flash flooding. Model soundings show a less favorable environment for gusty downburst conditions, though.

The weekend is looking much like today, as high pressure re-asserts some dominance and lowers rain chances with continued-hot afternoon temperatures, so again the need for a heat advisory will be evaluated as the period gets closer. We’ll still have consistent southeasterly flow both aloft and at the surface, feeding plenty of rich moisture into the area, and this will bump storm chances back up a bit early next week.