Thunderstorms are a part of summer. In some areas it’s the dominant weather feature. Here in the Carolina’s a front came down from the north, the same front that brought chamber of commerce weather conditions across the Northeast. It stalled and it stormed. And stormed. And stormed. And stormed. All I can say is this: Any drought that was developing in the Southeast US, particularly in the Carolinas, got mostly if not completely washed away this weekend.

With heat building across the Central US today and a cold front zipping through the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley, this will be the battle zone this afternoon and tonight, and where the best chance of severe weather will be. Damaging straight line winds will be the biggest threat. That front moves its way into the Northeast tomorrow, especially Upstate NY, New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Heads up for severe weather here on Tuesday. What’s left of that front washes out, again, over the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama with an increased threat of thunderstorms on Wednesday, compared to today and tomorrow.

The heat is in the desert Southwest and in TEXAS. Texas is having its hottest summer in decades, reminding me again, of that infamous summer of 1988 La Nina devastating heat wave and drought. The lone star state will stand alone against the heat with many records falling including a predicted 109 in Austin! That’s serious and BIG, even by Texas standards.

The long range into this weekend builds the heat back across the rest of the Great Plains, Central US, Mississippi Valley and starts to move it east towards the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes. For those locations that have had a “decent” summer without too many bouts of heat and humidity, here’s a heads up… Mid-July could be a different story.