A Few Scattered Storms Remain, Slightly Cooler For The Weekend

Saturday Forecast Update for July 9th:

Storms came through overnight prompting a few power outages over the Gibson and Obion area early this morning. Up to 4 inches of rain was estimated on radar through the eastern portions of the viewing area.

Scattered storms remain into the afternoon today as a cold front continues to move through the area. Cooler temperatures will prevail in the lower 90’s for highs which is a little better than the upper 90’s of the past few days. Overnight lows will return to around 70 tonight with the upper 60’s by Monday morning.

The rain was much needed but while some received 2 to 4 inches of rain, some of the western and central sections received nothing. Better chances of rain will return again Wednesday of next week and hopefully we can fill in some of the areas needing rain.

While we will see a bit of a cooldown from earlier week, it will still be quite hot in the afternoon hours so continue to use caution as we’ll go into the lower 90’s with lower but considerable humidity hanging around today.

PET SAFETY:

It is too hot to trot for man’s best friend during most of the day when temperatures get this high. It’s always smart to test the ground outside before going on your daily walk. A good rule of thumb is to put the back of your hand on the ground for 10 seconds. If you can hold it there without burning, then it’s safe to take the pup out. Take walks either early in the morning or late in the evening, and avoid the hottest part of the day. Be mindful of all hot surfaces like sidewalks, metal boat docks, or sand. You can also carry your pup across parking lots if needed or physically possible. Some signs that your pup has burned their paws. They could be limping or prancing across the pavement, refusing to walk, showing blisters or redness, and chewing or licking their paws.

SATURDAY AND THE WEEKEND:

A cold front is going to move through West Tennessee this weekend. The timing and severity of the front is still being determined, but showers, storms and a brief cool down will likely be coming our way this weekend. Don’t get too excited as highs will still reach the low to mid 90s, but we should also see a less humid air mass for a couple of days. The winds will come out of the northwest on Saturday behind the front and out of the northeast on Sunday helping keep the heat index in check all weekend long.

Showers and storms are expected to develop on early during the day on Saturday as the front gets a little closer and passes by. We could see some strong and possibly severe storms this weekend, so we will be keeping a close eye on the forecast and situation as the week progresses in the 7 Storm Team Weather Center. Rain chances look to clear on out Saturday afternoon with Sunday having mostly sunny skies and dry weather. There is the potential for some locations to receive over an inch of rain this weekend.

NEXT WEEK:

We will heat back up quickly on Monday and Tuesday next week with highs back in the mid to upper 90s. But the heat wave will be short lived as another front looks to be heading our way on Wednesday. We should see some low 90s returning to finish the week and there might even be some 80s on the way by the following weekend, but we will see. The winds with start out of the east on Monday then shift more to the southeast Monday evening and come out of the southwest on Tuesday. Tuesday looks to the hottest day of the week. Northerly winds will cut down on the humidity Wednesday through Friday behind the cold front. The best chances for rain next week looks to be on Wednesday as the front passes. Some storm activity will be possible so be sure to stay weather aware on Wednesday.

FINAL THOUGHT:

We saw our first +99° day on the year in July and some more upper 90s or low 100s are expected as we finish off the week. The official start of summer kicked off on Tuesday June 21st, and there will be more chances for severe weather  and heat waves though as we approach the start of summer. So you need to stay weather aware to changing weather patterns and monitor the forecasts closely. We got you covered in the WBBJ 7 Storm Team Weather Center as always.

For tips on preparing for the storms, click here. To download the WBBJ 7 Weather app, click here.

Brian Davis
Storm Team 7 Meteorologist
Twitter – @Brian7wbbj
Facebook – Briandaviswbbj
Email – Badavis@wbbjtv.com