First Weekend of Summer Living Up to Its Name

The summer solstice occurs Saturday morning.  Because of the tilt of the Northern Hemisphere toward the sun, the solstice represents the point at which the sun is highest in the sky.  After Saturday the length of daylight decreases until we arrive at the winter solstice in December.

Official summer start time is 5:51am local time, if you'd like to set an alarm to mark the occasion.

It will feel every bit like summer this weekend, as the heat continues and the humidity stays high.  Even though we dont' have an upper level high pressure heat pump right on top of us, we are close enough to the high over the southeastern U.S. to keep highs in the mid to upper 90s.  We're actually in between two high pressure cells, which allows for a better opportunity for a few showers and thunderstorms.  But the better chance for any rain will be west and north of us.  We can't rule out a brief shower over the weekend, but most of us will be rain-free.

Early week, a weak, summer cold front will try to approach from the north.  With the front closer to North Texas, we'll have a bit more lift for widely scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially Tuesday and Wednesday.  The coverage of rain may turn out a bit higher, depending on where exactly the front ends up.

The rain chances this weekend are paltry at best, but they do slowly go up for the start of next week.  A cooling shower would feel nice right about now, right?!

See you this evening at 4, 5, and 6pm on CBS11

~Jeff J.