We've Been Down This Road Before... TURN AROUND!

SUMMER CONTEST NUMBERS ARE UPDATED.  CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE BAR ABOVE!

8:30 AM Monday Update... In case you missed it, check out the video below from the Sunday night 10 PM news.  I think this solidifies me as the ultimate weathergeek!  I saved several snowballs from the storm last February in my freezer.   I thought it was time to bring them out on the hottest day of the year so far (103 degrees).

At this time last year, we were getting ready to experience the worst part of the hottest summer on record in Little Rock.  I was hoping we could just forget about it and it would never happen again in our lifetime, but I have discovered some very interesting statistics.


If the summer of 2011 ended today, it would be...

• The 5th hottest summer by average temperature
• The 4th hottest summer by average high temperature
• The 4th hottest summer by average low temperature

At this exact same time last year we had the same average temperature as we do now.  Average temperature is simply the high and low each day averaged out.  Summer is defined as the period from June 1st to August 31st

The summer of 2010 became the hottest by average temperature due to the extreme heat which really didn't start until the middle of July.  I hope we can avoid that same situation this year, but we need to watch it.  It's highly UNLIKELY it would happen in back to back summers, but sometimes mother nature does what she wants.

There's some hope down the road.  Monday and Tuesday will likely feature more triple digit temperatures.  After that, the ridge of high pressure may break down a bit allowing a frontal boundary to inch closer to Arkansas from the northeast.  There may also be a disturbance which moves into the region from the north.  These factors could increase cloud cover, bring small chances for storms, and decrease the temperature just a little.

HPC manual progs indicates a front trying to enter Arkansas from the northeast Thursday.  This "backdoor" cool front could increase rain chances and drop readings only a few degrees by the middle to end of the week.  The best chance for any storms will be closer to the front in northeast Arkansas.