Well temperatures right now are in the lower 90s around the region and with dewpoints in the mid-upper 60s it's another somewhat uncomfortable day out there...there is wind though, gusting close to 30 or so MPH so maybe a tad bit of relief out there in that department. The other noteworthy thing is that there continues to be a lot of smoke out there, although it is thinning somewhat compared to earlier this AM. This is a result of wildfires buring in E AZ, in particular the Wallow fire which has charred some 400,000 acres thus far and it's still burning. This is now the second largest wildfire in AZ. When I looked at the visible pictures yesterday, you clearly saw the plume of smoke moving through the plains states...it was really thick yesterday across central and western KS...and while much thinner today I still think it has made a 1-2 degree difference in our potential highs for the afternoon. Plus we also now have a S/SSW wind and not a SW wind...this too while hot is not as hot as the potential. Here is a look at today's visible pictures...

You can clearly see the smoke, represented by that hazy look to the skies. Also notice where it is thicker, towards the S/SE of the metro...here is another satellite photo to look at...

Again that ribbon of smoke is clearly seen.

Take a look at where all this is coming from...while large for sure, inthe big scheme of the country, it's not covering a ton of real estate, but boy is there a lot of smoke...

The newspaper in Phoenix has a great(!) animation showing the scope of the fire over the last week or so, you can really get an idea how the fire has spread...take a look at it!


OK...lets now talk about our rain chances....for some the word rain might be a four letter word, since many upstream are concerned about flooding. many though want a free drink of water for the grass/crops that might be getting a bit stressed from this heat and dry weather for the last week or so. As a matter of fact a quick check of the past 1st 8 days of June reveals that this is the hottest start (highs wise) since 1972...almost 40 years. There is relief though showing up...when it gets here is a good question because it's not too far away. Here is the latest map showing how close that cold front is to the region...

This front has a very nice spread in temperatures associated with it...however the atmosphere above us is currently capped and while some activity can't be ruled out towards the NW/N of the metro, closer to the IA/NE border, the amount of activity may be more of a thin line of storms as opposed to a massive squall line. That may not be enough to push the front into our area tonight...so as a result we sort of do the whole thing over again tomorrow and hope we can get some activity to give that front a bit more of a southwards push. then depending on where the front stalls our rain chances may vary be location on Friday. Regardless at this point Saturday looks OK, again we'll be watching for where the front ends up, then as the front which should be pushed to our south, retreats northwards on Sunday, along with a potential ripple in the flow Sunday Morning, the potential for additional t/storms will exist to finish off the weekend. There is the potential for a real sneaky cool day in there, depending on the timing of all these possible storm scenarios. The "cool" air should move into the region on Friday as a surface wave pulls through sometime during the day allowing for more of a sustained N/NW wind for a period of time.

A very complicated forecast to say the least...

Joe