July 21, 2008

The hottest weather of the summer will maintain the next few days as high pressure lurks nearly overhead. A sinking motion associated with the high pressure zone heats the air beneath, while at the same time suppressing cloud development. Thus, mostly sunny and hot conditions can be expected to remain for a while. Patchy high clouds may show up from time to time due to outflow from Tropical Storm “Dolly” in the Gulf, but these will offer little relief from the heat.

Increasing surface moisture by Thursday, along with a cirrus cloud shield from the outflow of “Dolly”, should ease daytime highs down by three or four degrees; this will lower the actual air temperature while making it feel hotter; so it’s likely to be a wash. Daytime highs will likely be back around 100 over the weekend. Ugh!