The same weather system responsible for searing heat over the southern Plains will build toward the Southwest and Southern California in the coming days.
While not likely to bring triple-digit heat to Downtown Los Angeles, temperatures are forecast to climb well into the 80s in the city and could reach 90 degrees for a couple of days next week.
Triple-digit heat will nose into the Inland Empire, and even some of the beaches may bask in 80-degree warmth.
Temperatures could reach 110 degrees in Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Phoenix during the middle of next week.
The temperature trend will be on the rise starting this weekend in the Southwest.
Inland Storms to Wane
Meanwhile, as high pressure builds at most levels of the atmosphere, the amount of shower and thunderstorm activity, known to locals as the monsoon, will tend to diminish bringing significantly less rainfall.
At the very least, the storms will become much more spotty in nature.
High pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere represents a zone of very warm air aloft.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "When it is warm aloft, the atmosphere is considered to be "stable." It is more difficult to get thunderstorms to fire up in such a situation."
Also, when it gets warm aloft, it is often hot near ground level during the summer months.
"We had this sort of weather pattern earlier in July over the interior Southwest," Clark said. "This time it looks like more of the heat will try to reach coastal areas."
Even with the high building, Clark still expects a few very widely separated storms to pop up over the mountains, due to the intense heat over the interior.
The pattern change will be marked by an unusually far-reaching outbreak of severe weather from the northern Plains late this week to the Midwest and Northeast U.S. this weekend.
Hot Weekend for the Northwest
The temperature spike will not wait until next week in the Northwest.
Upper-level high pressure will build over Washington and Oregon rather quickly this weekend.
Temperatures could flirt with 100 degrees in Portland and may reach 90 in part of the Seattle metro area on Saturday.
The coastal Northwest, like much of coastal California, has been experiencing an extended period of below-normal high temperatures, due to a persistent onshore flow of air from the Pacific Ocean.
Typically, this flow starts to ease moving forward through July.
Downpours and locally severe thunderstorms over the Central states will not only foil holiday weekend activities, but will also put some lives at risk.
A few days after a chilly storm departs the Northeast, warm weather will make a strong comeback in parts of the Midwest and the East later next week.
The storm responsible for the wind, cold, rain and snow in the Northeast Friday and Saturday will slowly ease up for the balance of the holiday weekend.
During Sunday's race, the skies will be variably cloudy with the risk of a few showers.
"This pup was literally singing when he saw his family," Michelle Karolicki, relocation program manager of the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, said about a reunion that took place on Thursday.
Another plunge of chilly air will set the stage for the risk of a frost and freeze centered Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and other nearby states this weekend.
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | N/A | |
| Low | N/A | |
| Precip | N/A |
Chicago, IL (1992)
32 degrees, latest 32 or lower on record.
New York, NY (1979)
A one-hour and 18 minute delay between the Pirates
and Mets game due to fog.
Midwest (1896)
Tornado swarm in Iowa, Illinois and Michigan;
74 killed.
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