High Pressure

A few early evening clouds and even a shower or two in the southwest will fade away quickly this evening.  We'll see clear skies and lows in the upper 60s in the west, with lower to middle 70s in the east. Another scorcher is on the way for Saturday as sunny skies prevail.  Highs will range from 103 to 107 degrees across the viewing area.  Advisories and warnings for the heat are out across parts of Kansas through the middle of next week as highs stay up in the triple-digits.  A big area of high pressure will keep the heat dome locked in tightly so don't expect any changes until perhaps the latter part of the week.

The heat advisory continues for much of Kansas through next Tuesday as the relentless high pressure system continues overhead. Any scattered storms in Kansas this evening will be drying up after sundown and temperatures will once again stay in the 70s for lows around much of the state. Highs will be back above 100 on Friday with continued sunny or mostly sunny skies for the area. If a few stray storms pop up, they will remain very sparse in areal coverage. Heading into the weekend, the weather will not be changing as temperatures will continue to surpass 100 both Saturday and Sunday.

If you are in search of a change in the weather this week, you will be out of luck because high pressure will keep us hot and dry throughout the week. Skies will be clear overnight with lows near 70 in the west, but most likely staying in the mid 70s central and east. The winds will be fairly light from the south. Heading into Tuesday, skies will turn partly cloudy central and east, but stay mostly sunny across the west. Highs will be near 100 for much of the state with a south breeze.

Triples are good in baseball, however in the world of Kansas weather triple digit heat is never fun!  Just like yesterday, there is enough moisture in place across south central and eastern Kansas that a late afternoon "pop-up" thunderstorm may develop here or there, but don't count on it.  The heat of the day leads to convective thermals rising through the moist (humid) atmosphere.  The net result is cumulus clouds (puffy white clouds) and if these clouds grow large enough one or two may produce a shower or thunderstorm.

Temperatures will continue to slowly inch higher as the weekend draws near and high pressure returns to the midsection of the US. Lows overnight will be in the mid 60s west/around 70 in southcentral Kansas with some scattered clouds. Western Kansas will likely stay clear overnight. Highs on Friday will be in the mid 90s across the west with upper 90s in central and eastern Kansas. There should be some scattered clouds over the state, but most likely not enough to slow the warm up in the afternoon.

A few evening clouds and even a stray shower to the east of Wichita will fade away as we lose today's heating.  Clear skies are forecast overnight with lows in the 60s in most areas. Sunny to mostly sunny skies will be the rule on Thursday, with light south to southeast winds.  Forecast highs should reach the middle to upper 90s.  Other than an isolated storm chance in the northwest Thursday night, the next 7 days look pretty dry as a big area of upper level high pressure noses in toward the mid-section of the country.  Temperatures will also heat up, with highs in the upper 90s to around the 100 degree mark.

If 111 degree heat in Hill City yesterday doesn't sum it up, then here are the details...   A ridge of high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere continues to build and will be centered over Kansas most of this week.  The end result will be sunny skies and temperatures forecast to reach the century mark or even higher.  So, some will sizzle, some will fry, while others burn.  Heat Advisories for high heat index values (temperature plus humidity factor) will be a common occurrence this week with indices running between 105-108 degrees.