Oppressive heat continues to grip the upcoming week

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Something a tiny bit different may be in store for Monday as a change of pace from previous days of heat and daytime driven storms. There will still some of

that, especially the heat but a more organized storm structure may progress into North Georgia this evening into the early overnight hours, bringing with it the chance for some strong to severe winds. Other areas outside of this could still see some diurnally driven convection, although coverage isn’t expected to be any more than isolated chances. The Heat Advisory remains in place across basically everywhere outside of the mountains. Moisture is a bit lower as a pocket of drier air rotates into the area this afternoon allowing for some  afternoon mixing of drier air at the surface. Dewpoints will still be in the upper 60s to lower 70s, but that’s better than the mid to upper 70s we’ve seen in the past few days. Lower moisture  content means surface temps can increase even further under the dome of high pressure, so expect upper 90s to lower triple digits air temperatures. This will give us heat indices well into the triple digits by the afternoon. We’ve seen numerous days of high heat with little overnight recovery, so please continue to use caution when working or playing outdoors, and check on the more vulnerable neighbors if you can. Moving to the thunderstorm threat, still expect to see a few diurnally driven storms to pop up across the area, especially in western and Middle Georgia where moisture content is present. These storms will be capable of brief strong winds, frequent lightning, and heavy rainfall. The more organized threat will be later into the evening and early overnight hours. A frontal boundary will be pushing towards the region with plenty of moisture ahead of it. These storms are likely to push south into portions of North Georgia, bringing some impacts in the form of strong to severe winds. If coverage is great enough, some cold pool mergers may aid in creating additional convection.  This is where things get a bit uncertain. Storms will likely move south into slightly drier airmass we have in place. So as you move south, some elevated instability remains. Shear also decreases. Storms should fade after sunset. The timing will be how fast these storms will fade and how far these storms travel south.  Going into Tuesday, the front that brought the storms should move though much of the region and brings slightly cooler temps to some locations across North Georgia. Temperatures along and north of I-85 may only get to the low to mid 90s, but dewpoints will only be in the upper 60s as dry air filters in. It still will be hot, but at least some of the Heat Advisories will go away.