Widespread triple digits return Monday
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The hot & dry weather of summer locks down over North Texas this week and upcoming weekend. Expect highs in the triple-digits and feel-like temperatures close to Heat Advisory levels.
Lows Sunday morning dipped down to 73 degrees at DFW, tying for the coolest July morning we've had this year. Highs in the afternoon hovered right around average for this time of year (upper 90s) but dewpoints dropped down to the low 60s by afternoon. This meant no significant Heat Index numbers with the drier air in place. Just your typical summer evening ahead.
Enjoy your walk this evening, the temperatures are going up starting Monday.
Dewpoints are going to slip upward as well as a south wind taps into Gulf moisture. Our geographical location is "Coastal Plain." This means the moisture from this warm body of water significantly influences our weather. By Tuesday morning dewpoints in the 70s (muggy) return.
The Atlantic basin is warming at a historical pace. Global ocean temperatures have been creeping up since the dawn of the industrial age. The Gulf of Mexico is warming almost twice as fast.
So the heat is back. Any rainfall ahead? Not likely. It is looking bone dry all the way into next weekend.
We are in the midst of an El Nino Summer. Usually El Nino summers are just a little cooler and bless North Texas with above-normal rainfall. Not so much this year, despite the quick intensification of the ocean circulation since late Spring. This is a full, lockdown El Nino with a 90% chance of being firmly in place this winter. It wasn't even there in April.
The Atlantic basin was already warmer than normal before El Nino set in. Now the Atlantic is shattering its record temperature. Around the coast of Florida they have never seen sea temperatures this warm halfway through summer. Records are falling, no where more so than around the Keys. Scientist are already predicting one of the worst coral die-offs in modern record and perhaps the destruction of all coral reefs in the area this year.
In North Texas, this week ahead doesn't look at hot as last week and that run of Excessive Heat Warnings. We could see a Heat Advisory by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Not much relief in sight. Climatology tells us from middle July into the first week of September is historically the hottest time of year for us. We appear to be following the script. Here is the Climate Predication Center's outlook for temperatures into the first week of August.
Expect the elevated fire risk to continue for some time.