Intense summer heat on the way...

While temperatures here haven't been all that high for early July (upper 80s to around 90), a big dome of extremely hot air has been affecting the West. Here are some of the high temperatures from Friday:

Phoenix, AZ 113
Las Vegas, NV 115
Salt Lake City, UT 103
Boise, ID 105
Great Falls, MT 104
Rapid City, SD 105

Many of these were record highs, including Great Falls, where the temperature was way above the average high of 80 degrees!

Here in Central Virginia, temperatures will be on the rise through the weekend. The humidity won't be too bad on Saturday, with dew points in the somewhat comfortable low 60s. However, it will become quite steamy by Sunday afternoon, with temperatures in the mid 90s and the heat index around 100 degrees.

A extended spell of very hot weather next week...

Monday will likely be the hottest day here, with temperatures close to the century mark. We could flirt with 100 again on Tuesday, although there will be a risk for some scattered thunderstorms to develop in the afternoon. Temperatures in the 90s are likely again on Wednesday and Thursday, although there will be more cloud cover and an increasing threat for thunderstorms. The next front will move into the area by later Thursday, and should help to lower temperatures back into the 80s by Friday. Our longer range charts are showing the potential of a deeper East Coast trough developing by later next weekend. That could help keep our temperatures down a bit to start the week of the 16th.

The latest in the tropics...

Since our first two named storms of the season, the tropics have been very quiet. We don't see any potential development over the next couple of days. I previously mentioned that the favorable areas for development in June were in the Gulf and Caribbean. Now during July, we look farther into the Atlantic for possible development, including off the East Coast. As we get into August, activity usually increases, heading toward the peak of the Atlantic season, which is around September 10th.