Summer

Clear skies will be found all across Kansas tonight and tomorrow. Winds will continue on the light side over central and eastern Kansas while the west sees breezes in the 10-20 mph range with higher gusts. Lows tonight will be in the 50s in the west and 60s central and east. High temperatures tomorrow will be in the 90s statewide. Thursday looks mostly sunny and still hot with readings in the 90s again. Some clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac will be found in the area on Friday, mostly over the eastern half of the state.

When you have a classic boat like Greg Largen's 1972 Century Arabian, you want to take it out and enjoy it.  And, for the first summer in years, Largen has been enjoying a lot of evenings on El Dorado Lake. "Everything's been great," Largen says.  "We love it!" Largen and his wife have had a lot of company out on the lake, because El Dorado is one of the few Kansas lakes that hasn't been devastated by the hot, dry weather which is shriveling up a lot of lakes and, in a lot of cases, causing blue-green algae outbreaks.

The Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League brought back two key pieces from last year's team today, announcing the signings of forward Matt Summers and defenseman Jarred Mohr as well as adding rookie forward Todd Hosmer to the roster for the 2012-13 season.   Summers, 26, enters his sixth season as a pro and second in Wichita. The Savage, Minnesota native led the Thunder in scoring last year with 61 points and was tied for ninth in assists with 42. He was named the Sher-Wood CHL Player of the Month last October and was third in the league in shooting percentage (.202)

The guns are still blazing at Old Cowtown--so is the scorching sun on the 25th day this summer of triple-digit temperatures in Wichita. Tourist Alex Omeke grew up in the African desert and says it feels like home. "This is our weather," Omeke says.  "I'm used to this. " Saturday is normally the busiest day of the week for attractions like Cowtown.  But Cowtown almost looked like a ghost town in the afternoon.  It seems as though visitors are not necessarily staying away altogether--they're just playing it cool.

They're called putting GREENS, but the recent triple-digit weather and lack of rain have them looking for like BROWNS. We talked with Ron Reese with Wichita's MacDonald Golf Course.  He says the courses buy city water just like everyone else.  But, he says, many courses use bermuda grass which tolerates heat better than other varieties.  Reese tells us golfers understand. "Most golfers understand with the heat we've had," Reese said, "they've got a yard at home, they know what its like trying to take care of their own yard and they understand we're doing the best we can to give them the best playing conditions we can through the summer" Reese says there is a difference between this summer and last summer.   The temperature is dipping lower overnight, which helps the grass recuperate.

Blazing, baking, blistering, scorching, sizzling, searing, sweltering, over heated, piping, parched, roasting all describe our current weather - "HOT".   No big change are expected in the weather pattern over the next several days.  An area of high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere will keep us hot and dry through Tuesday.  Heat Advisories and Excessive Heat Warnings are out for portions of the state until Tuesday evening, for heat indices between 105-107 degrees each afternoon.

The Wichita State University Summer Orchestra brings dramatic characters to life at this weekend's concert featuring Tchaikovsky, Weber, Sarasate, and Surinach. The musical ensemble is made up of 60 professional musicians, WSU students and high school instrumentalists. A virtuoso violin setting of the famous opera Carmen, about a seductive Spanish gypsy, is created by WSU master's student Leo Adamov. He says the piece is challenging but the great emotional contrasts make it fun to perform.

Most of Kansas will see several days of triple digit heat this week, but forecasters say don't expect a repeat of last year. Wichita recorded 53 days of triple digit temperatures last year which broke the record. This year Wichita has recorded two days over 100 degrees.  Last year at this time there had been nine.  There have been parts of Kansas that have seen 110 degrees or more this year. “This summer doesn't look like it's going to be as hot as last summer.  We've already had more rain than we had last year and also La Nina is no longer in place so it doesn't look like we'll have the number of triple digits we did last summer.” says KWCH 12 Meteorologist Ross Janssen.