In Brief:
Moisture is leaving the state as a giant high pressure system and upper level ridge allow temperatures to rise to about the highest values we see around here for the next week and beyond.
The Forecast Discussion:
Here comes the heat. Again. Fronts won't be able to approach Colorado easily with a high pressure center setting up over the state (see Figure 1 in the gallery above). We start this forecast period with the ridge already getting firmly established over the west (Figure 2). Dry air is encroaching from the east and west on Tuesday (Figure 3). Just a narrow belt of moisture over the Rockies held on long enough for the scattered storms Tuesday night. The fires in the West are pretty well contained, only a small amount of smoke is lingering on the eastern plains. By Wednesday noon, temperatures are rising to possibly hit 100F again (Figure 10) with the powerful ridge becoming more broad across the nation (Figure 5).
The Longer Range Forecast:
Our hottest day in the near term will be Friday (Sunday will challenge it for heat as well). The ridge and high pressure center is gargantuan (Figure 6). Temperatures will soar to almost 20F above normal around Longmont with compressional heating from sinking air in the ridge and down slope flow off the mountains. Over the next 5 days, we won't see any water falling from the sky (Figure 8). For a glimpse into the future, NEXT Wednesday's upper air map (Figure 9) shows that things are not going to change. The ridge is even larger, if it has changed at all. With very little rainfall over the next week, we will hover near 100F 7 our of the next 10 days.
Note: I'm still on vacation for Independence Day week so I'm covering 3 days at a time. It is also hard to say new interesting things when a ridge locks in like this. Stay cool out there!
