DRYING OUT, HEATING UP...

After two weeks of active weather we'll be drying out with little precipitation over the next 7 days. The reason has to do with what's happening 5,000 feet or so above our heads.

A big ridge of high pressure will be building in and bringing the heat. As that warm air is sitting up above our heads it will suppress thunderstorm activity. That's called a capping inversion (or cap) -- because the clouds need the surrounding environment to be cooler than it to rise, the warm air layer stops it from rising. That will prevent clouds from growing into thunderstorms (unless something can come along to break the cap).

Now to round out the weekend temperatures will be near normal:

The heat already begins to crank up on Monday:

The heat grows even more on Tuesday ahead of a storm system that will likely pass to the north of the area Tuesday night:

The chance for rain will be highest to the north of Iowa with the main low pressure system. With the cap strong in place to the south little to no precipitation is expected, but if storms can develop they may be strong Tuesday night into Wednesday:

Temperatures will be held back slightly behind the system on Wednesday:

But we're right back to it on Thursday:

And as I mentioned... not much rainfall. This is the European model's output for the next 7 days:

The heat is on...

RK