WEDNESDAY WEATHER: A relatively dry stretch of weather, by summer standards, is upon us. We won’t have any rain chances between now and Saturday. It’s not unusual to go three days without rain during the summer, obviously, but it is somewhat unusual to have dry enough air in place that we go three days without any threat of rain. As for temperatures, they’ll be typically warm, but not as hot as we saw yesterday, which will prove to be the hottest day of the week. We’ll top out around 83 degrees today, with similar temperatures tomorrow and Friday. Humidity levels will be relatively low for this time of year today and tomorrow, so all in all it will be a stretch of comfortable weather to close out this week.
THE WEEKEND: Rain chances return this weekend, with an upper level closed low pressure system parked to our northwest and a persistent flow of moisture out of the Gulf. That will fuel likely chances of thunderstorms each day Saturday and Sunday. It’s likely that neither day will be a washout, but predicting when rain occurs and when it doesn’t won’t be possible very far in advance. Temperatures won’t get much above 80 degrees.
FURTHER OUT: Closed lows are notoriously stubborn and slow-moving, so rain will remain likely in our area for at least a couple of days to start next week. Longer-range rain chances will be about average for this time of year, while temperatures will likely be slightly above-average.
RIVER CONDITIONS: Streamflows have returned to average for the first time in weeks. The Big South Fork River is flowing just above 300 cubic feet per second (cfs), and Clear Fork is flowing just above 50 cfs. Water clarity continues to improve, and water temperatures have surged into the mid 80s during the peak of afternoon heating. River conditions will be close to perfect for swimming by the end of this week.
TROPICAL WATCH: A very slow start to the Atlantic hurricane season continues, with no tropical storm formation expected for at least the next 7 days. This is good news for late-season beach vacationers and also means there’s no threat of our weather here at home being influenced by tropical storms coming out of the Gulf.
