Cruising Toward Slightly Cooler Temps?

Here's another view from the Tennessee River just north of downtown Chattanooga. Folks have been flocking to any water these days. Friday's high of 100 marks the first time we have officially hit triple digits since September 6th, 1999. And the next two days we'll still climb into the mid 90s...with the steam in the air making it feel like 100 to 104 during the afternoon hours. But that steam also brings us chances for afternoon storms. And the downpours they have provided parts of the area since Friday have been impressive. On Friday 1 1/2" fell here at Channel 3, but half of that fell in about 20 minutes. And this e-mail came in from Mrs. Lynda Rolston of Big Ridge, "In addition to being powerless for three hours last evening, in just over 2 hours our rain gauge recorded 4" of rain. That's the most sustained rainfall we can remember - wonder what the short term rainfall record is?"
Well Lynda, Chattanooga's one hour rainfall record is 2.7" set on July 27th, 1976. According to the Guinness Book Of World Records, the one minute world record was set on the island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. In that 60 second period, 1.8" fell on November 26th, 1970. That's a tremendous amount of water.
The heat bubble that's been sliding around the United States will be sliding back westward towards the Plains States later this week. And that should allow temperatures to slide down to the upper 80s by this weekend. This is also the trend on the Climate Prediction Center's 8 to 14 day outlook which now calls for below average temperatures here in the Tennessee Valley August 14th through the 20th. So we will see if the jetstream can buckle down our way far enough to take the edge off this stretch that has put us 95 or hotter every afternoon since July 31st.

Today: Partly cloudy and steamy with highs near 95. Only a 20% chance for an isolated storm, mainly east of I-75 this afternoon.

Tonight: Storms fade leaving us warm and muggy overnight. Lows near 74.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy and steamy again with highs near 94. 30% chance for scattered storms area-wide.

Wednesday: A weak front sags into the area triggering scattered storms. Highs near 92.

Thursday: 30% chance for an afternoon storm. Highs near 92.

Friday: 20% chance for an isolated storm. Highs near 90.

Quite a few schools going back into session today. Sure seems too early to me. The "endless summers" I remember gave us the break we needed. By the time the 3 month vacation was over, the tar on the road quit melting in the afternoon. And although we would never admit it then, we were ready to go back to a new grade. Walking to school in the morning was often cool and dewy. And it was never long after the doors opened, that the days quickly got shorter and thoughts turned to chilly nights watching football.