Each of the next at least 5 days will see temperatures from Wichita Falls, Texas to Wichita, Kansas top 110° thanks to a very powerful upper level ridge which has been intensifying in recent days but has really brutalised the Plains all summer long. The stronger the upper ridge, the greater the depth of sinking air within the atmosphere and the higher the ceiling of maximum warmth, the hotter surface temperatures can go.
Yesterday saw Wichita, KS top 111° and this looks likely to be beaten late this afternoon unless conditions change ever so slightly in the next couple of hours. Last summer saw this temperature reached 3 times and this is the warmest such value here since 1980. Wichita’s highest ever recorded reading is 114° and this value may be threatened in the next few days. The highest in Oklahoma City is 113° , this too may be threatened with each of the next 3-5 afternoons expected to top 110° or higher.
Hot nights will greatly help boost temperatures by day, giving them a warm head start!
The low at Tulsa, OK this morning was 88°, a reading that looks likely to be the city’s warmest night low on record if it doesn’t cool below this by midnight tonight. With these types of readings at night, this supports extreme daytime highs of all-time record proportions. Other Central Plains cities are likely to join Tulsa is recording their warmest night lows on record as well as possibly their daytime in nights to come as the air mass continues to heat further. Remember the accumulative effect of heat, the more it builds in this perfect infernal setup, the slower it cools after dark and at this time of year, there is a limited period of time before the sun returns and the cooling process stops and the heating of the air commences.
Thankfully we’re entering August, a time when the sun’s angle starts lowering!
This heat doesn’t look to go or ease through the rest of this week and could well peak as late as this weekend, a long time for the heat to accummulate. The blowtorch looks to last into early next week but the good news, if there is any is that we’re entering August and not July and so while August can and likely will have lots more heat to come, nature’s clock starts ticking beyond the first 15 days of the month, cause the sun’s angle will start lowering and so the maximum heating potential within high’s start to wane.
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Graphic courtesy of The Weather Channel
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