Short rain will bring relief from heat

Wanted: A little relief.

Wednesday was the hottest day of the summer so far, with a high of 96.7 degrees recorded at MU’s Sanborn Field at 3:10 p.m. By 5:30 p.m. the temperature had dropped slightly, but higher humidity pushed the heat index to 100.1 degrees.

Jon Carney of the National Weather Service in St. Louis said today and tonight will be the only chance for rain for the next six days. Thunderstorms associated with a cold front moving through the area will keep temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s Friday and Saturday, with hot weather returning on Sunday and continuing through the middle of next week.

“The relief from the heat will be very brief,” Carney said.

Pat Guinan, a climatologist with MU’s Commercial Agriculture Program, said Missouri has averaged 7.13 inches of precipitation for the past three months — 4.67 inches below normal. Preliminary data from the weather service indicates that May was the ninth driest on record, with only 2.35 inches of rain, making this spring the sixth driest since 1895.

Guinan said the latest outlook for the first part of July is not all that promising, with rainfall expected to be below normal. He said some areas are drier than others.

“Severe drought conditions do exist over portions of southeastern Missouri,” Guinan said. “The rest of the state has also dried out rapidly, and it is imperative that a wet weather pattern establish itself soon.”