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Forecast Discussion:
Broken record time: we remain dry, clear, unusually warm (record heat at some stations), but now get a bit of local smoke.
The trough remains far off to the west as we sit under the giant ridge's western edge (Figure 1). The ridge is squarely centered over Florence and is not helping that storm move in any direction for the next few days. There are almost no winds aloft over the SE U.S. Figure 2 is the surface map for later today with a surface high sitting over the state still. Hot and dry are the words.
We do have a few local fires that have begun. Smoke from those will begin to mar our beautiful blue skies and mountain views (Figure 3). It doesn't look choking thick, but you might smell it at times.
The longer range discussion:
Very little changes through the weekend with summer heat still baking us. It isn't until Tuesday/Wednesday that the ridge collapses eastward and the west coast trough begins to approach us for our next big cool down and returning rain chances (Figure 4). More tomorrow!
