Hottest Day of the Year on Wednesday, Some Lucky Folks Saw Some Rain Too!

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update

July 23, 2025

Joel Barnes,

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update:

Some good and bad news today! The good news is a few of us are lucking out and seeing a quick shower. Most of those are southeast of Madison county and are developing near a stalled out boundary that will pushed to the east into the day tomorrow. The bad news is, it is officially the hottest day of the year so far reaching 98° in Jackson with a heat index of 110° around 3pm. Thursday will be hot but probably a degree or two cooler than today. Rain showers are not in the forecast on Thursday but a 20% chance will return each day this weekend. Catch the latest on the radar and more on the never ending heat coming up here.

May be an image of text that says 'STORM TEAM WEATHER wbbjtv.com What are "Popcorn" Showers! Popcorn Showers Popped Up Today Across West Tennessee! A popcorn shower refers to brief, scattered showers that develop & dissipate quickly, often resembling popcorn popping. These showers are associated with afternoon heating & the formation of cumulus clouds. Popcorn showers are often scattered and unpredictable, with some areas experiencing rain while others remain dry, The term "popcorn" refers to how quickly the showers develop and disappear, similar to how popcorn kernels pop and then stop.'

I had a few people reach out to me and ask what “popcorn showers” are, a term sometimes used by meteorologists. Here are a few things we looks when when classifying Popcorn showers…

Localized: They are not widespread and affect only specific areas.

Brief: They are typically short-lived, often dissipating after sunset.

Scattered: Multiple showers might occur across a region, but they are generally isolated and don’t form a continuous band.

Impact: They can bring brief periods of heavy rain and, sometimes, lightning, though they aren’t usually severe.

Forecasting Difficulty: Due to their localized and unpredictable nature, these showers can be challenging to forecast precisely.

THIS WEEK:

After dealing with a very hot weekend, we didn’t get a break in the heat for the first half of the work week and we will not be getting a break anytime soon. In fact, it is likely going to stay hot for the next 7 days across the Mid South. During the middle of the week, highs reached the upper 90s and the feels-like “heat index” reached as high as 110° and at times close to 115°. We fell short of high temperature records but it was extremely hot with Wednesday reaching 98° in Jackson (the hottest day of 2025 so far).

May be an image of text that says 'STORM TEAM WEATHER wbbjtv.com FORECAST HEAT INDEX TOMORROW 106 106105 105 104 105 106 106 106 105106106106106105 106106 102 103 98 95 98 9a 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 1p2p 3p4p 3p 4p 5p 6p 7p 8p 8'

The extreme heat warnings will be extended for most of us on Thursday with a few counties just under a heat advisory. Highs are expected to reach 97 for Thursday before cooling down a tad into the weekend. We will only be seeing a few clouds developing in the afternoon and evening and rain showers look unlikely until Friday at the earliest and possible this weekend. The heat index will approach 110° or higher again on Thursday. The winds will come out of the southeast again on Thursday. Overnight lows will drop to the mid to upper 70s as we head into the end of the work week.

May be an image of map and text that says 'STORM TEAM WEATHER wbbjtv.com STORM TEAM 7 WEATHER FUTURECAST THU 3:30 PM HAIN MIXED UnionCit City Unior 92° SNOW Ridgely 93° Martin 91° Paris 90° Dyersburg 93° There will be a Trenton 92° few more Camden 9 91° Huntingdon don 91° Rigley 91° Alamo 91° 9 Covington ton 92° Brownsville 91° Lexing ton 91° Jackson 91° clouds this weekend but any relief from showers Parsons 91° Henderson 91° Memp his 96° Somerville 91° Bolivar 92° storms seems Selmer 92° Savannah 91° unlikely for most of us anytime soon.'

Chances for rain return on Friday but chances are not great. We will see a 10-15% chance on Friday but that chance will climb a bit as we head into the weekend. We will see more clouds on Friday than in the middle of the week but we will still see plenty of sunshine as well. We will call it partly cloudy and the winds will come out of the south on Friday and be light. Highs will still reach the mid 90s and the “feels like” temperatures will again be in the middle 100s. Friday night will fall down to around 75° to kick off our weekend.

May be an image of ‎map and ‎text that says '‎STORM TEAM WEATHER wbbjtv.com 48 HOUR REGIONAL FORECAST Thursday 3:50 PM ه reaeKansas City St. Louis UNOW MAED HOT Louisville Tulsa Charleston Jackson Little Rock Knoxville Dallas Raleigh HUMID Birmingham Atlanta Jackson do. Baton BatonRouge Rouge We might cool down a little bit as we wrap up the work week and head into the weekend but it is still going to be hot and humid.‎'‎‎

THIS WEEKEND:

We are expecting another hot weekend but there will be more clouds over the weekend than we saw during the middle of the week. This will keep temperatures a tad cooler but highs are still forecast to reach the mid 90s both days for the upcoming weekend. We are expecting partly cloudy skies this weekend with maybe some clouds on Sunday than Saturday. The best shot for rain in the forecast is coming on Sunday but chances are only 30% at this time. Rain chances on Saturday are 20%. The winds will come out of the southwest on Saturday and shift closer to the west on Sunday. Morning lows will still only drop down to the mid 70s. It will be hot and humid this weekend but we will probably only be under a heat advisory and not an extreme heat warning.