WEDNESDAY WEATHER: ☀️ Still hot. Still humid. Still sunny. Today will be a carbon copy of the past couple of days, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 90s. We’ll top out around 93 degrees today, with a heat index near 100 degrees. A Heat Advisory remains in effect for the remainder of the week. Nighttime temperatures still aren’t offering much relief, as we bottom out only in the low 70s with very muggy conditions. There’s a very slight chance of thunderstorms tonight, but chances are pretty low.
Tomorrow will be very much like today, with temperatures pushing into the mid 90s.
THE WEEKEND: We aren’t going to see much heat relief this weekend, though we will see a slightly better chance of isolated to scattered afternoon thunderstorms. There’s about a 20% chance of these pop-up storms on Friday and a 30% chance on Saturday. Chances of Mother Nature raining on our parade Saturday are actually pretty low, but rarely do we see a 4th of July with a 0% chance of rain. We’ll see thunderstorms finally become likely on Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: Thunderstorms will remain likely early next week, with afternoon temperatures dropping back into the mid to upper 80s. The next couple of weeks looks pretty typical of summer in these parts, with warm and muggy temperatures, a humid atmosphere, and near daily chances of garden-variety afternoon thunderstorms. There’s a chance that July winds up being a third consecutive month of above-average rainfall, as our region continues to recover from drought.
RIVER CONDITIONS: Our rivers still aren’t optimal for swimming after the weekend’s heavy rainfall, but they’re getting there. The Big South Fork River dipped beneath 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) late yesterday evening, and below 1,500 cfs early this morning. That’s still well above normal for this time of year, however; the norm for early July is around 300 cfs. Further upstream, Clear Fork dipped below 400 cfs yesterday evening, which is still much above normal for this time of year (normal is about 50 cfs). Water clarity remains suboptimal but is improving. Water temperatures are recovering from all the runoff, topping out at 72 degrees yesterday. We’ll likely push closer to 74-75 degrees this afternoon.
