7/15 - 7pm CDT - The Heat Returns!

A few showers are ongoing across West Tennnessee right now, but this is quite a bit less than what was expected today. Dry air rotating around a area of high pressure has moved into the region because this high has nudged a bit further westward than originally forecast. This means that a majority of the shower activity has stayed west of the Mississippi River, but a couple thundershowers could still pop up before sunset. These should mostly dissipate before the overnight hours.

Heat and humidity are on their way back as a large ridge of high pressure moves eastward over the next few days. This should surpress storm chances a little bit, but not entirely because temperatures aloft will still be a little cool. This heat at the surface and the slightly cool air aloft should create the typical "summertime pop-up storm" environment that we're used to seeing in the afternoons this time of year. Temperatures underneath this ridge of high pressure should be in the lower to middle 90's in West Tenneessee and middle 90's until Wednesday in Kentuckiana. A front dropping south on Thursday will trigger higher rain chances in both Kentuckiana and West Tenneessee and there could be some slightly cooler temperatures behind the front for Kentuckiana. Things look to remain hot all week long in West Tennessee!

I'm in Jackson, TN right now getting ready for the 10 O'Clock news on WBBJ this evening before going back to Louisville tomorrow. Check out my Hokey Weather Fact from last night's show on the left and be sure to tune in to WBBJ tonight at 10 for a new one!

 

7/7 - 10:30pm - Massive Heat Wave Ends with Storms

Today capped off the longest, hottest stretch of weather in Louisville that most people can remember. Today's 106° high at Louisville International Airport was the hottest it's been since July 14th, 1936 when it got to 107°. That temperature is Louisville's all-time record high and if we didn't have as many clouds as we did this afternoon in the city we would have met or broken it. This ends nine days of 100°+ weather, which is the third-longest stretch of triple digits ever recorded according to NWS Louisville.

Storms that will develop tomorrow will be ushering in cooler temperatures, which is welcome news! The bad part is that some of these storms may be severe due to the incredible amount of energy they'll have at their disposal from all the heat. Temperatures in the mid 90's tomorrow with sunshine and high humidity will power an awful lot of instability, or the tendency for air parcels to rise and create thunderstorms. A cold front sinking down from the north that will be stalling out once it passes just to our south will be the focus for storm chances starting tomorrow in the early afternoon in Louisville and lasting through Monday morning.

The main threats from these storms will be wind and hail, but there could also be a threat for some rotating storms too. While winds don't look favorable for any sort of big tornado problems tomorrow, a couple of these rotating storms may get just enough juice to put down a brief spin-up. EHI values in the adjacent image take into account both instability and helicity, which is a product of wind shear. The elevated values you see are powered mostly by instability and just a little bit of helicity, so again, winds aren't that favorable here. The Louisville area is no stranger to summertime tornadoes as you may remember a series of four of them that touched down in late June of last year.

Given the chances for some severe wind and hail tomorrow, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a 15% Slight Risk area for Kentucky. A better chance for severe weather (30%) exists closer to the East Coast where upper-level winds will be stronger as a trough digs down a bit into that area.

7/5 - 11:30pm - Louisville Urban Heat Island This Week

It goes without saying that it's been incredibly hot this week in Louisville. This is all thanks to an expansive ridge of high pressure over the center of the country. High temperatures have been record-breaking every day this week except Tuesday when the high at the airport was below 100. This stretch of triple digit temperatures dates back to June 28th and there appear to be at least two more days of 100-plus weather ahead. The urban heat island effect, which causes temperatures in concrete and asphalt-filled urban areas to be higher than more vegetated suburban and rural areas, has been pretty apparent with the extreme heat. Temperature readings at Louisville International Airport have been consistently higher than other observation sites within the city and this is easy to see when comparing the high and low temperatures for each day this week with surrounding stations. Below you'll find the high and low temperatures for each day of the week so far at Louisville International Airport (KSDF), a personal weather station in Shively (West Louisville), Bowman Field, and a personal weather station in Fisherville (East Louisville):

Thursday July 5th

Louisville Airport 104/78 | Shively 100/72 | Bowman 102/78 | Fisherville 98/72

Wednesday July 4th

Louisville Airport 102/76 | Shively 101/76 | Bowman 99/76 | Fisherville 97/69

Tuesday July 3rd

Louisville Airport 97/73 | Shively 97/73 | Bowman 96/72 | Fisherville 93/67

Monday July 2nd

Louisville Airport 100/73 | Shively 99/73 | Bowman 99/71 | Fisherville 96/67

Sunday July 1st

Louisville Airport 103/74 | Shively 102/75 | Bowman 101/72 | Fisherville 99/70

I've sorted the data above from most urban (the airport) to least urban (Fisherville), so it's not hard to put together that temperatures generally decrease as you get further away from the dense center of Louisville. The Fisherville observation station is located in a valley in the eastern portion of the county, so the low temperatures each morning are a bit cooler than they would be otherwise due to cool air settling into the valley at night. High temperatures at this station shouldn't be affected by the valley and this checks out because I've been keeping an eye on the observations in Shelbyville, which is down the street from Fisherville, so to say. This warmth due to the urban heat island near the airport is significant because this is where the official temperatures for the city are taken. If it's 100 degrees at the airport, the rest of the city is probably seeing temperatures a degree or two cooler.

This difference in temperature between the airport and the rest of the city was the focus of some research I published in April for a class at Mississippi State University. I used quite a bit of historical data to figure out how much the urban heat island "distorts" the temperatures at the airport. Go check out my research by clicking this link to a blog post I penned earlier this year.

 

8/4 - 11:30am - Finally, a Break in Sight!

Ridge breaking at 500mb on Wed.

The weather here in Louisville is about the same as when I left it last week on vacation in California! The good thing is that a cold front that came through yesterday will keep temperatures in the lower 90's today, as opposed to mid 90's for the last few days, and the humidity will be a little less oppressive. That said, daily afternoon storm chances will increase tomorrow and especially Saturday when an area of surface low pressure will pass right over us. That low and the accompanying cold front will finally begin the breakdown of this hot, humid ridge that we've been stuck under for so long, but not before some higher heat and humidity sneaks its way into the region for the weekend. Temperatures will be in the 80's next week as this pattern breaks, which could be temporary at best if some of the long-range models are to be believed.

So far we've had 40 days with highs at 90 or above in Louisville, with 18 consecutive days at 90 or above on our current streak. At this point last year we were counting 46 days in the 90's so far, so it seems this summer is a fairly close repeat of last.

Talk of development in the tropics has come to a fever pitch lately as Tropical Storm Emily seems to be taking a path that will pass very close to the southeast coast of Florida. The forecast path has been flip flopping around a little bit over the last couple of days, but at least right now it appears that Florida will not see a landfall from this storm. Emily has sustained winds at 50 mph, which is still a ways from the 74 mph needed to be declared a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center's forecast includes Emily reaching hurricane status by Monday well off the coast of South Carolina.

7/23 - 1:15pm - Heat Continues, No End in Sight

The entrenched heat we've had over the eastern half of the nation has been making headlines for quite some time now and it appears that it will continue for a while more. The strong ridge of hot, stagnant air is staying firmly in place and most forecast models are keeping it over the same area for at least the next week or two. A big portion of the Plains, Midwest, and East Coast is covered in heat advisories and warnings, which you'll see shaded in orange and purple on left.

Around Louisville, temperatures are going to stay in the 90's for the foreseeable future. For some perspective, we're hotter right now than Jackson, MS, Birmingham, AL, Memphis, TN, Jackson, TN, and Nashville, TN. Cloud cover, surface winds bringing in cooler air, and easterly flow aloft is keeping these locations cooler than Louisville even though they're all to the south. This really highlights the Midwest and Plains as being the primary target for the heatwave since we have been and will continue to be feeding off of the entrenched hot air from those regions.

A few pop-up showers and storms are possible today in Louisville, but a bigger chance for storms comes tomorrow as a "cool" front approaches the area that will cross through on Monday. I think tomorrow afternoon and evening will be the best time period for storms, most likely lasting into the early part of Monday. Behind this "cool" front temperatures won't really drop much, but dew points will take a tumble.

Check out the dew point output from the GFS for early Wednesday on the left. Those dew points are a good 15 degrees lower than the average this week and that translates to markedly lower humidity. That won't last long though... higher dew points with the same old hot temperatures will be back before the weekend. Until then, remember that an Excessive Heat Warning continues for the Louisville area until Sunday night. Stay safe!

7/21 - 2pm - Enough Excessive Heat to Go Around

93° in Louisville is hot on its own, but when you couple that with a very high 77° dew point (which puts relative humidity at 60%), you're talking about a heat index of 107°. We're well on our way to a high near 97° this afternoon. It's just hot. An Excessive Heat Warning, on left shaded in purple, remains in effect for the entire Louisville area until Saturday night as heat index values soar past 110° during the maximum heating of the day. Regardless of where you're from and the weather you're used to, your body cannot sustain itself in the hot, humid air we have in Louisville and much of the Midwest right now. Be sure to drink plenty of water and limit your activity outside this week to avoid heat-related illness.

Heat Index?

NC State Climate Office

I've been mentioning the term heat index for weeks now, so what exactly is the heat index you ask? Most people know it as the "feels like" temperature or what it feels like because of the humidity. That's basically it in a nutshell, but there's more to it. Mathematically, the heat index is a product of an equation that uses temperature and relative humidity. Factors like perspiration and body size averages are held constant, so the heat index is an educated guess at the "temperature" that most people are feeling. Don't let the "educated guess" usage fool you though, because higher humidity and in turn heat index values lessen the amount of evaporational cooling on your skin. If your body can't cool properly through this evaporation, you can overheat quite easily. It's interesting and useful to note that heat index values are based on what it feels like in the shade. Being in the sun can increase the heat index by up to 15°. Below is a table from NWS Pueblo, CO with heat index values and associated heat disorders:

---

With the heat we'll have a chance for afternoon scattered storms, which will increase significantly as we get closer to the passage of a cold front on Monday. Today's storms have been and should be staying south of Louisville, so we'll see no relief from the heat today!

7/18 - 12pm - Heat, Storms on the Way this Week

Many areas across Louisville saw heavy rain yesterday as scattered storms slowly made their way through the area. A setup like that will likely happen this afternoon as well with storms again coming from the north. Any chance of severe storms will stay to our north as the ingredients for this will be in better supply. Look for a high just over 90 degrees this afternoon in the city and a degree or two lower in the suburbs.

Disturbance over IN at 700mb

Tomorrow will be a different story. A small upper-level disturbance will be swinging our direction around a high centered in the Midwest. This should spawn an MCS (Mesoscale Convective System - a big complex of storms) in the afternoon that will move our way from the northwest. The whole evolution of the MCS and exactly who it will affect most is still murky at this point, but it seems the parameters for severe weather will be in place and the SPC has issued a 15% Slight Risk for the region. Damaging winds from bowing segments and even a few spin-up tornadoes are possible with this MCS tomorrow, so be on the lookout for warnings as they're issued.

Let's not forget about the heat! The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Watch along and west of I-65 from Tuesday afternoon to Friday evening due to heat index values reaching up to 110 degrees. Actual forecast highs in Louisville will be in the mid to upper 90's throughout the week, so get ready for an extended heat wave. Humidity won't be as extreme as last week, but even so we'll be seeing dew points getting into the mid 70's near the latter part of the week. Uncomfortable humidity starts with a 60 degree dew point, so you can imagine that mid 70's are pretty bad!

7/16 - 11am - Heat Building Back In

Ridge over Central US on Wednesday

It's been cooler and quiet over the past couple of days in Louisville with temperatures around and just below 90. That's going to change fast though as a hot and dry upper-level ridge begins to build into the eastern half of the nation next week. Today and tomorrow don't look particularly bad with temperatures in the low 90's and a slight chance of some afternoon pop-up thunderstorms

Thursday Eve. temperatures (GFS)

By Monday we'll be talking temperatures in the mid 90's and not a chance of rain in sight. The warming temperatures aloft with this ridge will limit instability for thunderstorm development significantly. Surface features like fronts will also be very hard to come by once this thing moves over us, so there won't be a trigger for storms either. What this means is that while the heat is building in we won't have any relief via the normal summertime afternoon storms that form. The compounding of the heat and dry air over the course of next week could send our temperatures to the 100 degree mark for the first time this season. Humidity-wise next week won't be as bad as it was earlier this week with dew points exceeding 80 degrees, but dew points in the mid 70's, still very humid, are possible especially on Tuesday and Wednesday. Below is some raw data from the GFS MOS output, which is basically a combination of numerical and statistical weather models. This output usually runs a  degree or two on the warm side this time of year, but I've highlighted the warmest temperatures of the week in red and highest dew points in green:

GFSX MOS (MEX)
 KSDF   GFSX MOS GUIDANCE   7/16/2011  0000 UTC                       
 FHR  24| 36  48| 60  72| 84  96|108 120|132 144|156 168|
 SAT  16| SUN 17| MON 18| TUE 19| WED 20| THU 21| FRI 22|
 X/N  89| 73  93| 75  95| 78  96| 79  98| 78  99| 78  97|
 TMP  85| 75  88| 77  90| 80  91| 81  92| 80  93| 80  91|
 DPT  69| 70  69| 72  70| 75  74| 75  72| 72  71| 71  70| 
 CLD  PC| PC  PC| CL  PC| PC  PC| PC  PC| PC  PC| PC  PC| 
 WND   6|  6   7|  6   9|  9   9|  9   8|  7   8|  7   8|
 P12  24| 13  14|  7   9| 19  40| 27  20| 12  25| 14  19|
 P24    |     19|      9|     40|     40|     25|     34|
 Q12   0|  0   0|  0   0|  0   1|  0   0|  0   0|  0    |
 Q24    |      0|      0|      1|      1|      0|       |
 T12  26|  8  32| 10  24| 37  49| 49  39| 29  28| 21  36|
 T24    | 30    | 40    | 50    | 71    | 49    | 44    |

Looks pretty hot doesn't it? A span of three or more 90 degree plus days is usually considered a heat wave, so I think we'll meet and exceed that definition easily. Next week will be a good time to take it easy and drink lots of fluids when working or playing outside. Here comes the heat!

7/12 - 10am - Another Day of Incredible Heat

Here we go again. It's already 87° with a dew point of 81° in Louisville and we're just getting started. See that condensation on my door to the left? That started at 10pm last night when the temperature dropped a couple degrees and just now cleared up with sunlight and a bit of heating. That's some crazy humidity right there. I think we'll get near yesterday's high of 97 again today, but like yesterday the dew point is the bigger story. With such a high temperature and high dew point in the low 80's (which is almost unheard of in Louisville), heat index values will be exceeding 110° again. An Excessive Heat Warning has been issued that goes from 11am this morning to 8pm this evening.

...But wait! There's more. We're under a Slight Risk from the Storm Prediction Center for severe weather this afternoon as a cold front approaches the area from the north. This is mainly a wind threat (notice the 30% wind risk red area on the right), but there's also a small chance for hail. A lack of wind shear and helicity (turning of the atmosphere) will eliminate any tornado threat for the most part. This front should be the trigger for some southward-moving clusters of scattered storms this afternoon. With all the heat energy and moisture in the area, there's no question that some of these could reach severe limits as the SPC indicates. Not everyone will see storms this afternoon, but those who do will receive quite a bit of rainfall, lightning, damaging wind, and a break from the heat. The cold front is positioned just south of Indianapolis right now and is moving fairly slow, so there will be quite a bit of time for storms to fire today and tonight before the front passes through sometime early tomorrow.

7/11 - 6:45pm - It's So Hot You Can (sorta) Fry an Egg!

It's 96° outside in Louisville with a heat index of 114°, making this the hottest day of the year so far. This got me thinking: Is it hot enough to fry an egg outside? I grabbed an infrared thermometer (measures temperature without having to make contact with the surface) and did some tests to see how hot various surfaces around my house were. The wooden deck was 149.3°, the tan concrete of our patio was 130.6°, and our driveway was 129.5°. While all very hot surfaces with direct sunlight, the deck was a clear winner.

Now to the egg frying part. I didn't want to fry an egg on the surface of the wooden deck because it may stain it. So, I put a metal cookie sheet right on top of the deck surface. This not only protects the deck, but easily heats up in the direct sunlight. After a few minutes in the sun, the temperature of the cookie sheet with non-stick spray applied about equaled the temperature of the deck surface.

Since the refrigerator at my house was void of eggs, I poured out the one-egg equivalent of egg beaters, the made-from-eggs substitute that you find at the grocery store, into a measuring cup. This may have thrown my results a bit, but hey, this is supposed to be fun right? Once the cup of egg beaters warmed to the ambient air temperature (around 96°), I poured it out on to the cookie sheet.

The results were interesting. I spread the liquid eggs around on the pan to resemble a flat pancake or crepe to increase surface area for heating. After a few minutes the edges of this "pancake" turned crispy and the middle became a thicker liquid with solid "chunks" (yeah, don't read this if you're getting ready to eat dinner) embedded in it. The surface of the deck was cooling down just before five o'clock, so this marked the end of the experiment. Had the temperature outside been a little hotter, and hence the deck a little warmer, it could have cooked more thoroughly. The temperature of a safely cooked egg is about 160°. Check out the video below to see the end result:

Today felt so hot because the dew point was near or at 80° for a good portion of the afternoon. That's a rare occurrence and signals the presence of an intense amount of moisture in the air. Humid is an adjective that doesn't even describe how it felt. Tomorrow should be almost as hot with the high topping out near 93 and heat indices near 110. This has prompted the National Weather Service to issue another Heat Advisory from 1pm to 8pm tomorrow. A "cold" front accompanied by a little southward dip in the jet stream (a trough) will increase scattered thunderstorm chances tomorrow afternoon in Louisville. The Storm Prediction Center places us under a Slight Risk for severe weather, mainly due to the threat for some hail and strong winds. The chance for storms could continue into Wednesday morning as the front passes through, but the lack of surface heating should suppress most of the development. We should dry out for the rest of the week with highs near 90. Stay cool out there!

7/10 - 3:30pm - Heat Advisories and Warnings

The hottest days of summer are yet to come, with today and tomorrow being just the start. A ridge of high pressure has locked itself into the eastern half of the nation, and many are feeling its hot and humid effects. It's 91° at Louisville International Airport, 88° in the southeastern suburbs of Louisville, 91° in Bowling Green, KY,  and 95° in Jackson, TN as of 3pm EDT/2pm CDT. Doesn't take me to tell you that those are some hot readings! Areas near the Louisville area have been placed under a Heat Advisory until 8pm tomorrow while areas to the west of Owensboro have been placed under a more strongly-worded Excessive Heat Warning. Highs in Louisville could reach near 96° tomorrow with heat indices ("feels like" temperatures) up to 110.

Most of West Tennessee is under an Excessive Heat Warning until tomorrow at 10pm. Jackson could get up to 100 tomorrow with Memphis easily passing into the triple digits. Heat indices near or above 110 are expected, so limit your time outside if possible and drink lots of water.

As a trough and associated "cool" front dip down from the north, we should see chances for storms enter the forecast by Tuesday, which will help to break the heat a bit. While more scattered in Tennessee, Kentucky will likely see a good helping of storms during Tuesday afternoon and evening, some of which may be strong. The Storm Prediction Center has placed portions of Kentucky (including the Louisville area) under a Slight Risk for severe storms. I don't think there will be much, if any, of a tornado and hail threat from these, but gusty winds could present some issues across the region.

8/16 - 1:30pm - Hello From Mississippi State!

I'm all moved in and ready for another semester at Mississippi State University! While temperatures here this week are comparable to Louisville, the humidity is considerably higher and makes it challenging to do anything outside. For a comparison, the dew point in Louisville right now is 61 degrees while at MSU it's 72 degrees. The proximity of Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico causes the higher humidity and those scattered afternoon tropical air-fueled thunderstorms that can put a lid on the heat for some areas.

Speaking of things tropical, the remnants of Tropical Depression Five off the coast of Louisiana may strengthen again (60% chance according to the National Hurricane Center) as it nears land and become a tropical depression once again. Regardless of whether this low strengthens again or not, it will bring quite a bit of rain into Mississippi by Wednesday and Thursday as it moves inland and curves eastward. This may put a slight damper on the heat around East Central Mississippi (lower 90's instead of upper), but temperatures will rise back into the upper 90's by the weekend with that daily chance of afternoon storms.

8/11 - 11:45pm - One Hot Summer...

We have had 57 days in the 90's or higher so far this summer in Louisville and there could be many more ahead as this brutally hot weather continues. It's going to get even hotter this week as the current ridging pattern stays in place, with temperatures expected to creep closer to 100 through Saturday. A Heat Advisory is in place through Friday, but I think a couple more Excessive Heat Warnings could be issued for us over the next few days. Like today, showers and thunderstorms could develop in the intense heat and spare some communities from the excessive temperatures over the next few days. As a cold front approaches the area by the end of the weekend, we'll see a better chance for rain and temperatures dipping (relatively speaking) into the lower 90's.

It's that time of year again. Like many college students, I'm heading off to school for the semester and that means not only a change of scenery for me, but a change of content on this blog for you readers out there. I'll be leaving Louisville for Mississippi State University on Sunday and I'm very excited to be getting back into the swing of things. This summer has felt extremely long for me and there's a good reason for that... Mississippi State has a three and a half month summer break, which is over a month more than the summer breaks I've had back home in Louisville. That extra month allowed me to witness eight tornadoes in the Plains this year while storm chasing. Needless to say, Mississippi State is a storm chaser-friendly university with that kind of semester schedule. As far as the content change on the blog goes, you'll be seeing Mississippi State-centric weather updates with a wealth of other weather news from around the nation. Hurricane season is still in full swing and I'll be covering that as well. As the semester gets underway I may throw a few surprises in the mix as well, so be sure to check back for new blog posts!

7/25 - 12pm - More Heat and Scattered Storms

After a couple days of 96 degree weather in Louisville, we're on-track for a cool-down today. How much of a cool-down? Try four degrees. Yep, it's going to be another hot one today. With dew points in the lower 70's today, the heat and humidity will combine to produce heat index values at or above 100. No Heat Advisory will be issued, but it'll still be hot enough to cause problems if you're not hydrated. The other feature of our weather today will be the chance for some showers and thunderstorms around the region. A cool front that's situated just north of the Ohio River will provide a trigger for these scattered storms today, which should begin to form this afternoon. We're just outside of a Slight Risk area for severe weather from the SPC, but I think a few storms around the region could get strong due to increased atmospheric instability and a light touch of shear. A small daily chance for storms will exist through the rest of the week with temperatures hanging around in the lower 90's.

We may think the heat is bad here in Kentuckiana, but there's nothing like a warm July afternoon in Death Valley, California. Look at the forecast for that area today from the National Weather Service: 

Today: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 121. Calm wind becoming south between 4 and 7 mph.

7/22 - 10pm - Could We Get Another Shot at 100 Degrees?

100 degrees might not be that far off as high pressure has settled into the eastern half of the country. As it draws up warm, moist air from the south over the next couple days, temperatures and heat index values will skyrocket. The National Weather Service in Louisville has issued a Heat Advisory from noon to 7pm for both tomorrow and Saturday in lieu of the heat and humidity. Temperatures both tomorrow and Saturday could get very close to 100 degrees and even hit it in areas influenced by the urban heat island effect (like downtown Louisville and the larger suburbs). As dew points get into the lower to mid 70's, heat index values will surge past 100 or even 105 over the next couple days. In other words, be careful and stay hydrated if you have to go outside anytime soon!

Relief will come in the form of a front on Sunday, which should bring us a chance for thunderstorms until Monday morning. Temperatures will stay in the lower 90's after that with a small daily chance of rain through the remainder of the workweek.

Tropical Storm Bonnie (formerly Tropical Depression Three) has formed off the coast of Florida and is expected to hit the South Florida Coast before heading out to the Gulf of Mexico. It should remain a tropical storm until it makes landfall somewhere near Louisiana according to both the National Hurricane Center and the spaghetti chart (a compilation of various computer model forecast tracks - see right image). We'll have to keep a close eye on any intensification of this storm, especially when it exits the Florida Peninsula and heads into the Gulf.

7/16 - 12am - More Heat and Rain on the Way!

We topped out at 95 degrees today in Louisville, which was two degrees short of being the hottest day of the year so far. Higher dew points also stayed to our west today as well, so things were not as bad as they could have been. We've had 31 days this year with 90 degree temperatures or higher in town, and I'm sure we'll be able to break 40. Compare that with 13 last year.

A cold front sitting just north of the Ohio River is firing off some strong storms just to our west and we'll likely see some rain from those tonight as they push south. This front will stall out in Southern Kentucky and generate more rain chances for us on Friday and Saturday before things taper off on Sunday. Another front will bring daily rain chances on Monday and Tuesday, but high pressure will regain control for the rest of the week and dry things out. Temperatures will remain consistently in the low to mid 90's throughout the next week.

Oil has finally stopped leaking from BP's Deepwater Horizon rig accident site after a new containment cap was placed on it this afternoon. This marks a possible end to the 85 days of leakage that has caused mass devastation along the Gulf Coast and called into question the regulatory practices in place for the industry. There's still no guarantee that the cap will hold and it will be a "wait and see" game for many in Gulf Coast region. To read an article on the leak stoppage, click here.