Heatwave

[Justin Walker]

93 degrees here in Denver already and its only a little after noon. Forecast high today and tomorrow 102F. The bad part is we don't have AC, and yesterday in our apartment it reached 91F and the temp outside was 99F. I going to have to find a nice cool air conditioned building to spend today and tomorrow afternoon. :angry:

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

For northern plains today. Image will be updating. 2pm and 110 in Pierre with a 113 in PHP. Will the 120 threshold be broken? Going to be close, obviously.

EDIT: Looks like some cumulus have slowed down Chadron. They could slow down Philip as well.

 

[Scott Olson]

2:00 PM Update:

109- Chamberlain
107- Mitchell
107- Mobridge
110- Pierre
113- Phillip
108- Rapid City (Airport)
108- Faith
108- Chadron (NE)

Huron didn't report tempature in last update but most likely has already at least tied it's previous 106F daily record. Probably some monthly records in there as well, will update after 5 with records.

Latest RUC indicates the possibility for thunderstorm development may be higher than intially anticipated. Most likely location is NE SD where consistent moisture convergence is weakening the cap and tempatures continue to sore. Would expect at least 10kft bases. If storms intiate in further W/SW lightning ignited fires would be fairly likely.

 

[mikegeukes]

Record All-Time High Temperatures for the Great Plains States
121 -North Dakota -July 6, 1936 Steele
120 -South Dakota -July 5, 1936 Gannvalley
118 -Nebraska -July 24, 1936 Minden
121 -Kansas -July 24, 1936 Alton
120 -Oklahoma -June 27, 1994 Tipton
120 -Texas -Aug. 12, 1936 Seymour

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wheat7.htm

At 4pm CDT 07-15-06
104 -Bismarck ND
115 -Pierre SD
110 -Chadron NE
102 -Medicine Lodge KS
106 -Ardmore OK
105 -Wichita Falls TX

Couple of South Dakota High Temps:
MBG :MOBRIDGE SD : 116 / 72 / 0.00
PIR IERRE SD : 117 / 78 / 0.00

I see for Iowa, dewpoints as high as 77 and 70 degrees,
got to love the corn and soybeans.

Later Mike ( I am disappearing for good)

 

[Joel Wright]

The most amazing temp to me today so far comes from my ol' vacation spot in northern WI. Hayward WI as of 4PM CDT measures 105°!

That's incredible considering the landscape surrounding this small town is almost entirely forest! Not too mention all the water from the many lakes nearby...

 

[Matthew Crowther]

New state record?!?!

309
SXUS73 KUNR 152303
RERUNR

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
500 PM MDT SAT JUL 15 2006

...POSSIBLE ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE TIED FOR THE STATE OF
SOUTH DAKOTA...

A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 120 DEGREES WAS RECORDED AT A NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE COOPERATIVE WEATHER SITE THIS AFTERNOON...LOCATED 8 MILES
WEST-NORTHWEST OF USTA. IF THIS TEMPERATURE IS OFFICIALLY
VERIFIED...IT WILL TIE THE ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA. ON JULY 5 1936...GANN VALLEY SET THE RECORD
OF 120 DEGREES.

 

[Scott Olson]

RECORDS:
Forestburg 108- tied record
Chamberlain 112 - (easy defeat of 102 daily record)
Huron- 109F - Broke previous record by 3 degrees
Sisseton- 105F (record was 102)
Pierre- 116F (possibly 117) (ALL TIME RECORD!)
Mobridge- 115F (Record 109)
Sisseton- 105 (Record 102)
East Rapid City- 106 (Record 103)
Rapid City Airport- 111 (ALL TIME RECORD!)
Phillip- 116 (ALL TIME RECORD!)
Pine Ridge- 111 (All Time Record!)
Chadron, NE- 112 (ALL TIME RECORD!)
Alliance, NE- 107 (Record)
Scottsbluff, NE- 106 (Record)
Sidney, NE- 104 (Record)
Laramie, Wy- 92 (Record)

As pointed out above, pending final verification. SD tied it's state record temp of 120.

Fires: I see more possible fires in Nebraska then I remember counting this morning. Otherwise South Dakota remains uneventful. Rapid City journalist Bill Harlam has been blogging from the Thorn Divide Complex. He also took a photo of a firewhirl.

 

[David Draun]

Forecasted to be almost 100 by me in Chicago on Sunday.
[/b]

Officially 97F at Ohare today. The humidity wasn't all that oppresive since dews dropped into the 50's this afternoon, but the heat did remind me of Baghdad just a little lol.

I would not be surprised to see local reports of 100-105F tomorrow, especially south and west of the city. :blink:

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

This graphic from www.srh.noaa.gov/oun

 

[Mark Farnik]

Out here on the eastern plains of Colorado, temperatures were generally around 100-102 degrees along the Front Range and Palmer Divide, and further north and east some spots hit the 105 degree mark. Basically the further north and east you were the hotter it was. I recorded a high of 105 degrees at 3:32 p.m. on my home weather station. At least it was a dry heat, thank god, unlike that miserable stretch we had there in mid-June... yech.
Our community band had a performance from noon until one o'clock today at Fort Morgan's annual Festival in the Park. We were sweating like mad and guzzling water between songs for fifty plus minutes. Then, of course, just as we finished the performance and started getting up, a nice cloud passed overhead and the air instantly cooled about ten degrees. It was an exasperating irony. :angry:
Tomorrow looks to be even hotter than today. I, frankly, would not be suprised to see some areas out here on the eastern plains exceed the 105 degree mark tomorrow. As for Nebraska and South Dakota... I can't imagine a day with worse heat than today, but it looks like it will be in the cards for tomorrow. Unfortunately it looks like this heat wave from hell is going to hang on in the Plains through Tuesday, and then maximum temperatures might still be in the upper 90's. <_<
Looking southwest, the remanants of Hurricane Carlotta are making their way northwards over northwestern Mexico, and should get drawn up into this monster high pressure system over the next couple days, restarting the monsoonal flow by late in the week. Let us all hope it brings super soaker rains and drastically cooler temperatures.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Once agian we are cooking here in the E NE and W IA area as we will for all of this coming week. The most extreme I have seen in the area thus far today is Red Oak at 2:55 they report a TD of 81 and a temp of 97 for a heat index of 119 Nope I spoke to soon at 3:15 Shenandoah IA has heat index of 123

 

[David Draun]

Strong mixing in the air today has prevented the heat from becoming too dangerous, in my area anyway.

High officially at Ohare today was 94F, but heat indicies did not reach over 100F

 

[Joel Wright]

99 was the best we could do officially at Moline. Couldn't quite reach the century mark. Deeper mixing lowered dewpoints nearly 10 degrees from the early morning readings, dropping to the mid 60's during the afternoon.

Does anyone know if that South Dakota temp was verified yet? The all time max temp that was tied yesterday?

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Even with the high dewpoints fires were an issue in the Omaha metro today although they were able to quickly contain the fires before structual damage occured, however it sounds like our Friends up in Valentine had a large scare today as a fire possed a serious threat to the town and much of town was evacuated. I have heard that the fire is under control and did not reach the city but it sounds like a fish hatchery burned and not sure about any other structures. Props to the firefighters as it cant be fun fighting a wildfire in 100+ degree heat.

Nebraska Fires

 

[PAULTOWNSEND]

Hit 99 at my place on Saturday in Appleton, WI. We were near the southern extent of the deeper mixing and thus the dewpoint fell to the mid and upper 50's during peak temperature time, but also kept the westerly winds strong enough to keep the Lake Winnebago breeze away from here. The maximum Heat Index was 102 on my weather station. Southern Wisconsin didn't get the deeper mixing and so they had highs in the lower 90's with dewpoints hanging on in the upper 60's to lower 70's. That is what we ended up with here, today, Sunday. We had a high of 92 with dewpoints remaining in the 69-73 range all day, for a maximum Heat Index of 98.