Tropical Depression #3 is off the coast of South Carolina this morning. Top winds are 30 mph. This storm should move northeast, along the coast of both South and North Carolina. The storm is forecast to become a weak Tropical Storm (maximum sustained winds around 40 mph). Because of that, Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for much of the Carolina coastline. Once this storm becomes a Tropical Storm, it will be named Cristobal.
Cristobal won’t affect our weather, but there’s another system that could. We’re watching an area of disturbed weather over the central Caribbean. This area will move northwest, and could eventually become Tropical Depression #4. Long range computer models indicate some potential for this to move into the Gulf, and if that happens, the storm could hit southern Texas/northern Mexico. There’s a lot of uncertainty, but if the storm does hit Texas/Mexico, then we could certainly be in line to see increasing moisture and perhaps some rain from this.
In the short-term on our weather, summer time high pressure will strengthen this weekend. The showers and thunderstorms that we’ve seen scattered across the west and north this week should become a thing of the past. The summer time high will warm the temperatures up. We hit 97 yesterday in OKC…making it our hottest day of the year so far. We should see 98/99 degrees early week. It’s not out of the question to hit 100 by Thursday.
Andy
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A very good friend of mine asked me a question the other day. He said, Sarah…seriously WHY is it so hot in July and August? The short, yet sarcastic answer from me was…because it is summer!! He then said but what is the reason…I then launched into my Meteorological tone..and began to explain.
First I will say this…you probably learned in your 5th grade science class that the earth is tilted. Now…if it wasn’t tilted, the noon-day sun would always be directly overhead at the equator, and there would be 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness, everywhere, every day of the year. The earth IS tilted though, and the Northern Hemisphere is facing the sun this time of year. This causes us to have MORE than 12 hours of daylight. The farther north we go, the more daylight hours we have. That is why Alaska has so many daylight hours. They are not as hot because the solar Radiation does not reach them as effectivelyas it does us. That also has to do with the angle of how the sun hits the earth. For example…if you hold a flashlight perpendicular to the floor…you will see a circle of light. If you hold it at an angle…you will see that the light gets spread out over a larger area, and forms more of a oval shape. That light or “energy” is spread out and therefore not as effective. Also it has more atmosphere to go through as well.
Make sense? If I am just confusing you more…please ask questions!! Here is a diagram to help out.
I then started talking about the Jet Steam, and how it stays north in the summer thereby not allowing the cold air to move south. I then got the question…well why DOES the cool air stay north of the Jet Stream? Or should the question REALLY be…why does the Jet Stream form in the first place? Well…that is a blog for another day. PART TWO comes next week!!
I will let you digest all this first…
Sarah
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After the madness of a typical Oklahoma spring, I love the relative tranquility of summer. Sure it can be hot, but so far our summer has been rather mild. No 100s yet in OKC, but there’s still plenty of time for that to happen. Last year we had no 100 degree days in OKC all the way through July. Then August came and we ended up with six days at or above 100.
And yes, there can be thunderstorms from time to time, but most of them lack the viciousness of spring storms. Summer storms are usually driven by the heat of the day, and once that is gone, so are the storms.
Today will be no different than recent days. We’ll see a few hit and miss storms pop up across the western half of the state. They’ll produce some lightning and heavy downpours for awhile and then they die out by mid evening. Most areas will stay dry. Highs will be in the low to mid 90s.
Another reason I like this time of year is that the college football season is only about 5 weeks from the first games. Every team is undefeated and full of optimism. I look forward to watching some good high school ball this year as well as the college guys on Saturday. I must admit I’m not much of a fan of the pros, but I will watch it from time to time.
Well it’s almost noon and I need to get to the station and get some work done. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Rick
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The delta in Jezero crater, a past lake on Mars. Ancient rivers ferried clay-like minerals (shown in green) into the lake, forming the delta. The clays then were trapped by rocks (purple).
New observations made by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently circling the planet, have revealed evidence that vast regions of the southern highlands of Mars were altered by water in a variety of environments billions of years ago.
The key to the finding is the discovery that rocks called phyllosilicates are widespread on at least the planet’s southern hemisphere. The water present on Mars from about 4.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago transformed some rocks into these phyllosilicates, which include clays rich in iron, magnesium or aluminum, mica and kaolinite (an ingredient in Kaopectate).
The layer of water-altered rocks sits below younger, volcanic rocks and the ubiquitous windblown Martian dust and sand in many places. But in craters and scarps, including Valles Marineris, across the terrain of the southern hemisphere, the ancient clays and other minerals have been exposed.
The variety of clays and other minerals formed also tells scientists that rock was altered by water under a variety of conditions.
One implication of these findings is that some of the environments that formed the phyllosilicates would not have been antagonistic to any potential life — unlike the conditions that formed the sulfates, which formed in a highly acidic environment similar to battery acid, as Murchie put it.
Whether the Mars rovers can get a close-up peek at these phyllosilicates while the robots are still able to roam the Martian surface is uncertain, because so far the rocks haven’t been detected near the crafts. But they could be there and simply be obscured in the north from the orbiter’s instruments by dust.
Rusty
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Showers and occasional thunderstorms have been affecting western Oklahoma since yesterday. There will be more this afternoon, and some of those could develop close to, or in the OKC metro area. I don’t expect much in the way of severe storms, but a couple of storms could be gusty with small hail and very heavy rain. Isolated 1-2 inch downpours are possible.
The storms will diminish later this evening.
Rick
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It has been a wet day from Woodward southward to Lawton. So far in Medicine Park in Comanche county, we have seen 1.74 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. This system has moved little this morning so the rain is falling over the same locations for a long period of time. Parts of northwest Oklahoma have seen more than a half an inch of rain. Any additional rainfall may lead to some localized street flooding. Oklahoma city has stayed dry but later this afternoon, rain chances are not out of the question. Most of the activity will still be in western Oklahoma, but it looks like a few showers may be possible in the metro as well….if you do see rain, it shouldn’t last too long. Otherwise…it looks like a hot and very humid day!!
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Don’t forget that next week is our “5 On The Road” series. We will be in a different town each day next week and will broadcast our 5 and 6pm news live. Here are the final picks:
Monday–Perry
Tuesday–Lindsay
Wednesday–Midwest City
Thursday–Seminole
Friday–Mustang
It looks hot, but not too hot. Highs should be in the low to mid 90s. We might even have to dodge a thunderstorm.
If you’re in or near the five cities above, make plans to come out and meet us. If you’re not, make sure to tune in at 5 and 6 each night next week. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the people and places in our state.
Andy
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Jesse asks:
“Has OKC hit 100 yet?”
As of the 14th of July, we haven’t. And I don’t see us doing it before the 21st of July. It could be longer than that. I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this yet, but I love weather trivia. The little facts. It’s the quirky stuff that makes weather so much fun. This is one of those things…our 96 degree afternoon high on May 19th was our *first* 90 degree day in 2008 and ties a couple other days for the hottest temperature of the year (so far.)
What we’ve lacked is that serious high pressure ridge that usually builds in during the summertime. It has been to our west for most of the summer. That’s why you keep hearing about the record heat over the western U.S. It’s also why we keep getting these July cold fronts. Oklahoma has been on the east side of the high, putting our upper air pattern in what we call “northwest flow”. With the jet stream flowing from northwest to southeast, cold fronts push over the ridge in the west, then move southeast across the Plains. Today is a perfect example. The cold front from Saturday has pushed all the way to central Texas. That’s a pretty good push for mid-July. I worked in central Texas for four years, and I can tell you that they don’t get too many cold fronts in July. Behind this front, our high yesterday was only 83 degrees, which is 10 degrees below normal. Our low this morning was 68, but the dewpoint was in the upper 50s, which made it feel nice and dry. As I write this, the 1pm temperature at Will Rogers is 86, so we’ll barely crack 90 today.
Looking at the computer models, I don’t see the summertime high making a serious run at the Sooner state through at least the next week. Temperatures will climb, but they won’t get too hot. We should peak out in the mid 90s later this week.
Andy
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It is cool! Temperatures are still dropping and we are expecting the official overnight lows to be in the upper 50s in Northern Oklahoma and low to mid 60s in Central Oklahoma. If I wasn’t working…I would be going for a morning run. Our average overnight low for this time of year is 71. It looks like we will be about 8-10 degrees below that in a few hours. Our record low is 57, set back in 1950. I don’t think we will beat that…but some of the northern counties may be close. Anyway….just wanted to give you a heads up…enjoy it while it lasts!!
Sarah
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That’s the average high for today in Oklahoma City. We won’t reach that.
A cool front continues to push into Texas. Showers and thunderstorms have been located behind this front all night long. The bullseye was around Payne county where 2-4″ of rain fell. On the other side, there are some parts of west-central and northwestern Oklahoma that didn’t see any rain.
The front will bring cooler temperatures to the state today. Highs statewide should be in the upper 80s…which is a real treat for mid-July. We’ll follow that up with a really nice Monday morning with lows in the 60s.
By Monday afternoon, the “cool” airmass will push to the east. Monday will be slightly warmer with highs in the low 90s. By Tuesday, the “muggy” airmass will return, and so will a slight chance for thunderstorms.
Like I said yesterday, it could be a lot worse this time of year. This summer has been pretty tame…but we still have August to get through!
Andy
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