WE'RE IN THE RING...

The ring of fire is a pattern we'll commonly get into during the summer months. You can either get caught in the fire - the high heat - or the ring - the rounds of storms. This is due to a locking pattern due to a big area of high pressure in the upper levels. We'll be on the edge of the high, leading to the rounds of storms that will mainly occur in the overnight hours. You can see where the ring is from the Weather Prediction Center's 5-day rainfall outlook:

The location, intensity, and timing of storms will be dealt with on a day-by-day basis. But each day (or night) storms will have the potential to be strong. Here's the severe weather outlooks for the next few days:

The risk is a level 1 out of 5 or marginal risk for severe weather. That means that an isolated storm or two could be severe. The primary risk will be damaging winds, but tornadoes cannot be ruled out.

The first batch comes Sunday night with storms into Monday morning. Here's an idea from the HRRR of 2 am on Monday:

Monday will be a warm and very humid day:

With some additional storms late Monday night into Tuesday morning:

And more storms on the way Tuesday night into Wednesday:

During the day it will be hot and humid with heat index values approaching 100 degrees each day through Thursday. Here's a look then at the precipitation totals on the European model through Thursday:

And the GFS:

There are differences as this pattern can lead to a feast or famine situation. But there will be thunderstorms and some locally higher amounts in spots.

Rebecca Kopelman