Tropical Storm Edouard Develops; Monday Forecast

Tropical Depression 5 formed this afternoon at 5pm and one hour later was classified as Tropical Storm Edouard with 45 mph winds. Edouard is disorganized currently and is not forecast to become a hurricane, but is over the warm waters of the Gulf and vertical wind shear is almost nonexistent so this one needs to be watched. Edouard appears to have no chance of moving northward into Louisana and the SE US as the ridge of high pressure will force Edourd to the W-SW over the next day or so. Landfall is projected to be somewhere near Houston/Galveston Texas region. Click the image for a Track Map and Infrared Satellite map using google maps from WeatherUnderground.



Closer to home, the heat becomes the major concern over the next three days. Monday should not be too extreme with low dewpoints leading to a more "comfortable" heat meaning heat indexes should not be over the actual temperatures by more than 3-5 degrees. Tuesday's heat will be more extreme with dewpoints in the upper 60s leading which will make it feel terrible and I would not be surprised if heat advisories are hoisted for Tuesday. Wednesday could be very similar as Tuesday. I still do not expect to see temperatures reach 100 either Tuesday or Wednesday. Again, like has been the case the last several weeks, the models are predicting too high of temperatures than what is actually being observed. Below are my predictions for Monday and Tuesday for select locations in NC. I will update tomorrow on Edouard (unless he rapidly strenghtens this evening), and refine the numbers for Tuesday as new data becomes available. Note that the record at RDU for Tuesday is 100 and for Wednesday is 97.


Raleigh-Durham: Monday 94; Tuesday 99
Greensboro: Monday 93; Tuesday 98
Fayetteville: Monday 96; Tuesday 99
Charlotte: Monday 95; Tuesday 100