More heat ahead locally as the tropics also heat up

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - High pressure centered just to our northwest will result in a continuation of hot and dry weather for the next several days.

The highs reached the mid-90s for most under mainly sunny skies on Wednesday.

Little change is expected through Saturday, with highs in the mid-90s expected to be common, and upper 90s possible for a few spots on Thursday. Thursday’s forecast calls for a high of 97 degrees in Baton Rouge which would fall just shy of the record of 98 degrees set all the way back in 1921. And we should largely be rain-free from today through Saturday.

Plan on rather warm weather for both Live After Five and LSU football as we get into the weekend. Live After Five will see temperatures start in the low 90s and fall into the low 80s by the end of the concert. Tailgating at LSU will feature another hot afternoon as highs climb into the low to mid-90s. Game temps should fall from the upper 80s into the upper 70s.

A few showers will be possible by Sunday afternoon and evening as a cold front approaches from the northwest. It will still be hot in advance of the front, with highs in the low to mid 90s, and rain chances running about 30%. The front slips to our south during the day on Monday and should deliver some relief in the way of lower humidity and cooler temperatures for much of next week.

The tropics have really sprung to life, with no fewer than 5 features to track over the Atlantic this morning. Fiona is now a Category 4 hurricane as it lifts northward away from the Turks & Caicos Islands. It will likely pass just west of Bermuda before delivering significant impacts to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as it transitions into a powerful non-tropical low.

Tropical Storm Gaston formed over the central Atlantic on Tuesday and could make a brief run at hurricane intensity before gradually weakening over the open Atlantic. It is not expected to directly threaten any land areas.

Elsewhere, we have a couple of other features farther east and closer to Africa that we’ll keep an eye on, but much of the attention will be on a tropical wave approaching the Caribbean. That disturbance is given a 90% chance of development as of the 1 a.m. Wednesday outlook. Forecast confidence is pretty high that it will reach the western Caribbean by early next week, but confidence in its future beyond that point drops significantly. We’ll continue to monitor its progress.

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