9/8 Chris’s “Sunny and Hot” Friday Afternoon Forecast

This afternoon an area of high pressure is located over New Mexico, with a trough from the eastern Great Lakes to Georgia. The remnants of the line of thunderstorms that dove southward through our area last evening have moved offshore into the western Gulf of Mexico. At the surface, the cold front  that has been to our north appears to be overhead this morning. As impulses of energy continue to dive into the trough to our east, the area of high pressure continues to get pushed westward somewhat. By Saturday evening, the high should be centered near the Arizona-New Mexico border, or perhaps a little west of there. This will allow the cold front to move a bit further south, perhaps to the southeast coastline. As for today high temperatures should get into at least the middle 90s, however somewhat less humid  than the last few days. Heat Index values will remain below advisory criteria. Saturday highs should be pretty close to today`s, but with northerly wind continuing, afternoon humidities should be even lower than today, potentially below 30 percent in some areas. Fortunately, winds will be rather light, easing fire weather concerns, if only slightly.

Little change in the upper pattern for Sunday through about Tuesday, which will mean a primarily dry pattern. While that will keep high temperatures in the lower to mid 90s for much of the area through the extended, most of the area should see overnight lows in the 60s to around 70 each morning. The exception will be areas very close to much warmer waters. Even there, overnight lows will probably fall into the 70-75 range. As we get into midweek next week,  a strengthening trough over the Great Lakes will push a frontal boundary toward the area. Moisture will be pooling in advance of the front which may bring a better chance of showers and thunderstorms to the area by late Wednesday or Thursday, and perhaps hold high temperatures in the 80s.