The Hot Continues

For the fourth day in a row the high will reach 100 degrees at the DFW airport. Downtown Dallas, surrounded by concrete, steel and cars, is always 5-7 degrees warmer than that number. Today we'll pack in about an extra quarter of a million people who will crowd along the parade route to cheer on the world champions Dallas Mavericks. While this is going to be a fun morning for everyone, please take the typical precautions when in an urban crowd in the north Texas summer heat:

1) Drink plenty of water!

2) Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing.

3) Avoid direct sun on your skin as much as possible and wear sunscreen, wear a hat and shield your neck.

4) Seek shade often, take frequent breaks if walking a long distance.

Please keep an eye on the very young and the very old. Everyone bring some water and some sunscreen and be willing to help others. Today is a celebration so let us all work together to make it just that.

This hot and dry weather will continue for Friday and this weekend. We'll have highs each day in the 100 plus range, the hottest streak of weather since last August. Overnight lows will be in the upper 70's, only in the low 80's in the urban centers. Mostly sunny skies will continue each day as will a brisk south wind.

This weather pattern is going to change as we start the next week. The high pressure dome parked over Texas is going to shift to the east as a trough builds over the central plains. This opens up the storm path from the northwest and helps bring up gulf moisture as well. We'll increase the rain chances as by Wednesday and Thursday. Because of the cloud cover and afternoon storms we should have highs in the low 90's instead of the low 100's.

Fire danger concerns continue, especially in the western counties that missed much of the May rain. Red flag warnings  and burn bans continue as this change in the weather pattern can't come fast enough for fire fighters. Dry weather for the next five days, below you see the QPF, the rainfall estimate for the lower 48. Hardly a drop of rain for Texas where more than half of the state is in extreme drought, the worst drought since the dust bowl years.