The picture above this post may look like Kevin Harned but this blog post is by me, the WAVE 3 Storm Tracking Team's new intern Ryan Hoke! I'm a senior at Mississippi State University studying broadcast meteorlogy and I do weather on weekends at a TV station in Jackson, Tennessee. For the past five years I've been a storm chaser with a storm chasing tour company in the Great Plains and this has given me a great deal of additional experience with severe weather and forecasting. I grew up in Louisville and have always loved how interesting the weather can get around Kentuckiana.
Let's go right into the forecast. After yesterday's scattered storms and heat we're in for more of the same afternoon. A Heat Advisory has been posted for the Southern Indiana counties in the WAVE 3 viewing area since temperatures will be in the mid 90's and heat index values could get up to 105 degrees. This general rule applies for the whole area though, so expect some warm temperatures in the 90's and heat index values near to over 100 degrees regardless of where you are.
The "pop-up" showers and storms we might see in a few areas today will be similar to what happened yesterday. Radar trends right now are indicating that these storms might not be as numerous today as they were yesterday and that they may be confined mostly to southern parts of the viewing area. This isn't good news if you're looking for temporary relief from the heat. These storms, should they form, likely won't move very fast due to weak winds in the upper atmosphere and at the surface. We had some great photos of some of these isolated storms sent in yesterday, but if you see one of these towering cumulonimbus cloud storms, what exactly are you looking at? I've assembled an image to the right that shows you an example of how one of these "pop-up" storms works. That should help you identify the parts of the storms that are developing right out your window! Note that depending on the winds the updraft of warm air and the rain may happen right on top of each other, which causes the storm to quickly fall apart.
More of the same heat, humidity, and storms are on the way for tomorrow. By Thursday we could have a few changes as a cold front approaches from the north. Storm chances will be higher on Thursday and Friday thanks to this, but and drier conditions and more hot temperatures for the weekend will likely follow the front as it pushes south by Friday night. The good news with all of this is that actual triple-digit temperatures are not in the forecast anytime soon even though heat index values may push into this range. Stay cool and keep an eye to the sky to see if you get a scattered storm or two over the next couple days!
Ryan Hoke
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