The NWS Hazards map from last night shows a lot going on around the country – possible derecho across the Midwest, severe thunderstorms around Washington D.C., and lots of heat across the interior of the country. The heat is the main focus for this part of the country.
Heat advisories (In orange) stretch across a large chunk of the Southeastern US, and Excessive Heat Warnings (In purple) are in effect for areas between Kansas City, St. Louis, and Memphis, TN. These areas in the purple are expected to see heat indices over 110F.
The GFS forecast heat index map for tomorrow is very hot-heat indices are generally expected to be highest in the Southern Plains and the middle Mississippi River Valley.
Looking at the next couple of days, warmer than average weather is supposed to continue across the South. In some of the hotter parts of the country, like Eastern Texas, temperatures may run 8-10F above average over the next couple of days.
Since the upper level ridge is parked over the Southern Plains, this area is going to be very dry. Frequent storm and rain chances are likely across the East Coast, and along the Gulf, but not much rain for TX/OK over the coming days.
This map, from the WPC, shows heavy rain is likely on the periphery of the ridge-that is to say, spinning clockwise from Iowa down to North Carolina. The rain over LA/MS/AL/GA is more spotty, and can be explained by isolated afternoon thunderstorms.
In addition, since storms move across the ridge, we may see a severe weather threat over portions of the Southeast later on this week. Right now, the SPC has a Slight Risk (In yellow) for severe thunderstorms for tomorrow. This is in place over portions of Northern GA, SC, Eastern TN, and NC.
Right now, it looks like damaging straight line winds will be the main threat, as an MCS type system is likely going to set up somewhere in the Slight Risk region. Tornadoes are very uncommon in these systems, so this is almost exclusively a damaging wind threat.
3-Day Southeast City Forecast
| Dallas, TX | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 103F | High: 103F | High: 104F |
| Low: 80F | Low: 81F | Low: 82F |
| Precip: None | Precip: None | Precip: None |
| Houston, TX | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 94F | High: 96F | High: 95F |
| Low: 78F | Low: 79F | Low: 79F |
| Precip: 10% | Precip: 20% | Precip: None |
| New Orleans, LA | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 89 | High: 90F | High: 90F |
| Low: 79F | Low: 80F | Low: 79F |
| Precip: 80% | Precip: 80% | Precip: 60% |
| Little Rock, AR | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 100F | High: 101F | High: 101F |
| Low: 79F | Low: 79F | Low: 80F |
| Precip: None | Precip: None | Precip: None |
| Memphis, TN | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 101 | High: 101F | High: 102F |
| Low: 80F | Low: 81F | Low: 80F |
| Precip: 10% | Precip: 20% | Precip: 30% |
| Birmingham, AL | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 94F | High: 97F | High: 97F |
| Low: 77F | Low: 76F | Low: 77F |
| Precip: 40% | Precip: 30% | Precip: 30% |
| Atlanta, GA | ||
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| High: 93F | High: 92F | High: 92F |
| Low: 76F | Low: 75F | Low: 77F |
| Precip: 40% | Precip: 40% | Precip: 50% |
