July is typically known for the heat and humidity that it brings to the Midwest, but that hasn’t been the case so far this year. As a matter of fact the last time that we hit 90° at the official reporting station here in Lawrence was on the 28th of June when we hit 91°. Since then we have had plenty of rain and cooler temperatures rolling across the great plains.

That is all about to change for us. The latest model guidance suggests that our daytime highs will once again be in the low to mid 90’s with humidity building back to the range that is considered uncomfortable to most of us.

At this point, it looks like the warmest day on tap will be Wednesday as seen from the GFS model shown below. We do seem to pick up a chance for showers on Thursday with the heat and humidity staying in place through the weekend.

Wednesday’s High Temperatures
http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/blogs/entry_img/2010/Jul/12/GFS_18_opUS_T2MS_0048.png

Most weather models show that heat and humidity staying in place well into next week with daytime highs ranging from the low 90’s to upper 80’s. If you remember from past blog posts, the main ingredients needed for thunderstorms are heat, moisture and some sort of lift. This type of setup will keep the heat and moisture in place through next week, leaving a source of lift (like a cold front) as the main variable here. It doesn’t look like we will see many disturbances moving through the area for the weekend, but if we do get a weak front move through, we could pick up some strong storms along the way late in the weekend or into next week.