Big summer heat, and our first heat wave of 2020 is in the forecast for Acadiana this weekend with heat advisories Saturday likely to continue for Sunday, and perhaps a good part of next week.
High pressure ridging will be the dominate feature in our local forecast for the next several days and with a west-southwest wind, expect less "cooling" from the Gulf of Mexico and hotter afternoon temperatures reaching the mid-90s.
Combine those temperatures with dew points in the mid-70s...and in some cases upper 70s in spots, heat index values will easily climb into the 106-112° range over the next several days.
This the National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for all of Acadiana Saturday, which will likely continue into Sunday...if our temperatures inch a little higher, those advisories could change to heat "watches" or heat "warnings".
The bottom line, after a morning start near 80°, expect temperatures to soar into the mid-90s with mostly a westerly winds Saturday.
Heat indices will likely climb into the 105-110° range Saturday.
Sunday will be just as, or even hotter, with highs again in the mid-90s accompanied by afternoon heat indices in the 106-112° range.
Rain chances, while not zero, will be quite low this weekend with a less than 10% chance of an isolated storm slipping southward into our area, but strong high pressure will either kill most action that comes close to us, or shunt any activity off farther to the east, into Eastern Louisiana and Mississippi.
Little change in the pattern is expected through mid-next week, with a gradual return to a more tropical "easterly" pattern anticipated for the latter part of next week and into the following weekend.
This pattern change should lead to temperatures closer to the lower 90s and perhaps a few afternoon storms, but for now, we do not see any real big weather-makers for the next 7-10 days...or perhaps a little more.
See the KATC 10 Day Forecast for the latest.
Meanwhile, in the tropics, Tropical Storm Fay will pester portions of the NE US and New England through Saturday with some locally heavy rains and gusty winds but is not expected to bring high impact conditions to the aforementioned regions.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Basin, it's quiet, and is expected to stay that way for at least the next week.
Finally, as we speak of the high heat over the next several days (which is not unusual for Acadiana to see this time of year), it's a good time to keep an eye on the kids so they don't get over heated and check on the elderly, as they are most susceptible to heat related illnesses.
And remember, heat is the number one weather-related killer year in and year out across the U.S.
Stay cool Acadiana!
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