Hot & Humid But Short Lived

Tuesday will be the hottest and most humid day so far this summer...so get ready.  It will be oppressive this afternoon.  Dew points will be in the low 70s with a slight NW down sloping air that will compress and warm temps to the mid 90s in the Harrisburg area.  Remember, we can have some rather hot days when the air down slopes off the mountains towards KMDT as the air warms adiabatically to the tune of 5.5ºF per 1000 feet of descent!  So hot air "over the top" so to speak can lead to some rather hot conditions.  The maps below show both the max highs for the country for Tuesday and the dew points:

 Here are the dew points for the same time.  Note the drier air to our NW and it's coming our way.

Here are the dew points for Wednesday afternoon.  Much drier!

Here are the dew points progged for Thursday morning:

And here are the forecast for PA for Thursday morning with the map of  morning lows.  That will feel quite refreshing!

The weekend and points beyond look to be more of the same repetitive pattern.  Although this weekend, I do believe there is a chance of a cloudy dreary weekend with a stiff onshore easterly wind that would lead to overcast skies and temps in the 70s. 

As for precip, there is a chance of a stray storm this afternoon, but not a widespread event.  In fact, most people will see nary a drop of rain through the remainder of the week.  The rain will be kept to our south over the next week as the map below shows!  This is the total precip through next Wednesday.  That train of rain suggests an on shore flow from the Atlantic at our latitude.  Just a thought....

In closing, the ongoing drought in the south-central and SW portion of the US is not expected to end any time soon. The NWS recently predicted that severe drought conditions will continue in Texas and Oklahoma through this year and into 2012. In order to escape the drought sooner, the region will need a few tropical systems to spread desperately needed rain to the area. The most recent US Drought Monitor report as shown below indicates that over 71% of the state is in the exceptional drought level, which is the worst drought level. The July 5 data can be seen below.  New Mexico is marginally better(~41% exceptional drought) as is OK....where in terms of water at present, Oklahoma is not OK!

Enjoy your MLB all-star (sort of) game Tuesday evening....

Smitty

AA:  Hot & humid Tuesday, warm and drier Wednesday, refreshing Thursday and Friday....might be a cloudy dreary weekend...might?  Not sold on that one yet.....Go National League!