Warmest in 10 years; Heat Advisory issued for Friday

We’re already starting Friday on a warm note.  Temperatures only fell to the middle to upper 70°s for the morning.  Plenty of sunshine will send temperatures back in to the 90°s this afternoon.

Expect high temperatures to peak in the upper 90°s in southeast Nebraska.  I am forecasting a high of 97° in Lincoln.  If it reaches at least 94° it will be the warmest July 15 in 10 years for the capital city.  Interestingly, Lincoln failed to reach 80° the previous two years.  That won’t be the case this year!

Dew point temperatures – measure of the moisture in the air – are expected to climb in to the upper 60°s Friday afternoon.  This will send the heat index well above 100°.  Peak heat indices should reach 100° to 105°.

Because of this, the National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for portions of southeast Nebraska.  The advisory will be in effect from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.

WEEKEND RAIN

There will be two chances of rain for the first half of the weekend.  Scattered showers will be possible early Sunday morning (after daybreak).  This round of rain will not be widespread.  I think there will be more have nots than haves.

The second round comes Saturday evening in to Saturday night.  Showers and thunderstorms will develop towards sunset over central Nebraska and then move east/southeast.  This has the best chance of bringing widespread rain to southeast Nebraska.  That being said, the amount of rain to fall does not look to be significant.

Southeast Nebraska soils are projected to lose around 2″ of moisture from the ground over the next week due to evaporation and evapotranspiration.  Meaning, we need that much rain to stay even.  Unfortunately, that does not look to be the case.  Computer models project 0.07″ and 0.00″ of rain over the next seven days in Lincoln.  And looking beyond that, the Climate Prediction Center is expecting below normal precipitation to fall in the Plains over the next 8-14 days.

Keep watering if you want to keep things looking green!

– Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer