Staying hot, but better rain chances ahead

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Heat continues to headline our weather with another Heat Advisory in place for today. In fact, today may very well be our hottest since this run of heat advisories began late last week. With that in mind, be careful and use common sense if working outdoors for any length of time today. Take frequent breaks, find some shade, and drink plenty of water.

Today, starts out mainly dry and that will allow temperatures to quickly warm to 90° or above in many areas by lunchtime. Into the afternoon, a few showers and thunderstorms are expected to return today, but rain chances will only run 20%-30%, with highs in the low to mid 90s.

Increasing moisture and weakening high pressure will allow for better rain chances and less heat through the remainder of the week. Tuesday’s highs could still reach the mid 90s in some areas, but rain chances will climb to 40%. Rain chances then look to run 50%-60% through the remainder of the week, helping to keep highs closer to 90°.

In the tropics, Henri made landfall as a tropical storm along the coast of Rhode Island on Sunday and continues to produce some heavy rainfall in parts of the Northeast. Elsewhere, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring a tropical wave over the open Atlantic, but it only has a 20% chance of development as of the 1 a.m. Monday outlook.

The NHC is now highlighting the western Caribbean for potential development, something that computer guidance has been consistent in showing in recent days. Development chances are currently listed at 20% for the next 5 days, but I would expect those to gradually climb. The very early outlook suggests an eventual track into the southern Gulf and hopefully well south of our area, but we will continue to monitor its progress closely.

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