More warmth with scattered storms...big change next week...

We had a pretty good coverage of scattered storms yesterday across the region, and I expect more scattered storms today and through the weekend. Highs will mainly be in the lower 90s...maybe some mid 90s in spots today.

The deal with these storms is that any of them are fair game to produce lots of lightning and locally heavy rain, and like we saw yesterday, some storms will produce some damaging winds and hail too. The steering currents today remain very weak, so there will not be a lot of movement with the storms...meaning some localized flash flooding issues could arise.

Next week...

A big weather change is set to unfold for next work week, and I don't think many folks will complain. A nice trough will set up along the eastern seaboard by Tuesday, and that will allow significantly cooler, drier air to plunge into the region. Highs will drop into the 80s Monday through Wednesday, and lows will dip into the lower 60s (even some upper 50s possible) with low levels of humidity.

Tropics...

Still watching the area of disturbed weather near the Bahamas. The overall chances of this becoming a classified system are small, and even if it does, it will likely get swept out into the Atlantic by early next week.

Baseball...

My Mississippi State Bulldogs have made it to the Super Regional round (Sweet 16 basically) of the NCAA Tournament. They will play Florida in a best-of-3 series in Gainesville for the right to a trip to the College World Series. Game 1 is a noon Eastern today. Go State!

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Hot with a few PM storms... pattern change on the horizon???

Not a whole lot of day to day change through the weekend. Highs today will be in he mid 90s (even some upper 90s in some spots) with highs remaining in the low to mid 90s through the weekend. Each day will feature the chance of a few mainly PM storms.

However, I do see some signs of a pattern change, at least a brief one, next week. It looks like we might get a nice trough to form near the East Coast, and if that's the case, we could actually get a pretty pleasant airmass into the Carolinas by mid-week. I don't want to get any hopes up just yet, but it is a possibility.

Tropics...

There is an old frontal boundary draped from the Atlantic into the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles. You always have to watch the tail-end of these old fronts for tropical development, and sure enough, some modeling is indicating that something will try to get going in the Bahamas. No immediate signs of if yet, but we will watch it.

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The heat marches on...

Highs today and tomorrow will top out in the mid 90s in many places in our region. It will also be muggier over the next couple of days compared to what it has been on some recent days...so you combine those two facts, and it will be pretty unpleasant outside the next couple of afternoons.

Today is also a Code Orange Air Quality Action day in much of the region.

Yesterday, it was interesting to watch the complex of storms that began the day in Ontario drop south and wind up in western North Carolina. It was fun to watch that drop our way through the day, then eventually die before reaching Charlotte. Today, there are no such complexes headed our way, so it will be up to daytime heating alone to trigger an isolated late afternoon or evening storm.

A weak front will slowly approach this weekend and bring in better scattered storm chance for the weekend.

Tropics...

The western Caribbean disturbance looks very disorganized this morning....no signs of development. Some computer modeling still tries to develop this thing, but I see no signs of that occurring as of now.

There is an old frontal boundary draped from the western Atlantic down to the Greater Antilles....and you do have to watch the tail-end of these fronts for tropical development this time of year.

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Heat settling in...

It has been a stifling few days of heat back in the Plains, and yesterday, Minneapolis topped out at a steamy 97!

The heat continues to build into our region from the west. In the Piedmont, highs today will top out in the lower 90s, but humidity levels will still be tolerable.

It gets a little hotter and muggier tomorrow and Thursday with lots of mid 90s for highs.

A weak front will very slowly approach from the northwest later this week, and that will help to give us the chance of a few afternoon storms by the end of the work week with a little better chance of some scattered storms this weekend. Weekend highs look to mainly be in the lower 90s.

Tropics...

The disturbance in the Caribbean Sea this morning looks pretty sickly this morning. No immediate development is taking place, but we still need to watch it over the next few days. See the video for some of the model data on that.

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Heat will return this week...

Some pretty nasty storms rumbled through parts of the mountains, foothills, and southern piedmont yesterday afternoon and evening. Many of the storms were severe with damaging winds, some hail, and a lot of lightning.

While a few isolated storms are possible today, the overall weather looks mainly dry now for most areas (outside of the mountains) through the mid-week period.

Heat will build, with mid to maybe some upper 90s back in place by Wednesday and Thursday.

Tropics...

Still watching a disturbance a little southwest of Jamaica this morning. It has at least some chance of developing...see the video for details.

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