AUSTIN, Texas — Toasty temperatures have plagued Texas over the past couple of weeks, with conditions being more reflective of peak summer than the beginning of the season.
What is the cause of this heat wave?
You may have heard of the "heat dome" that sets up over Texas from time to time. This is the culprit for our latest triple-digit heat streak. But what is this "heat dome?"
The heat dome simply refers to a strong area of high pressure that sets up over a part of the country for an extended period of time. High pressure in the atmosphere means that the air beneath the heat dome must sink.
As the air sinks and reaches the ground, it compresses. As it turns out, this compression process causes the air to heat up. Accordingly, the stronger the high pressure, the stronger the sinking air and the hotter the temperatures.
Not only does this sinking air cause warmer temperatures, but it also prevents updrafts from forming. This means that it is very hard for any showers and storms to develop and, in some cases, even clouds. Thus, you get the added effect of no heat relief in the form of rain or shade from cloud cover.
Strong "heat domes" can persist for a long period of time before a competing area of low pressure can nudge it elsewhere or cause the heat dome to weaken as the pressure in the atmosphere falls.
So, the question on everyone's mind: How long does this last for Texas? Well, triple-digit heat will continue into this weekend, but we're now seeing signs of a small pattern change by Sunday and early next week.
An area of low pressure from the West Coast will help push the heat dome to our east. This will open up the door for a small drop in temperatures and even some small rain chances.
Of course, as we enter into July and August, the hottest days of the summer are still ahead of us. We'll keep you posted right here on KVUE.
In the meantime, the extended forecast can be found below:
