After catching a break today, heat and humidity come blazing back in this weekend. Highs will run in the lower 90s and it will be getting steamy again. Saturday will be a perfect pool day, so reserve your chair early. Sunday isn't looking too bad, but there will be chances for pop-up late-day thunderstorms. The steamy and dry conditions will carry through into the start of the next week.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Barry continues to strengthen in the Gulf. The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center has the storm as a Category 1 at landfall along the central Louisiana coastline Saturday. Some areas could receive two feet of rain over the coming days. As is the case with many tropical cyclones, water will be a bigger issue than the wind. Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are bracing for very heavy rainfall, inland flooding, and storm surge along the coast. We will eventually start feeling the affects of Barry as it moves up the Mississippi before turn east through the Ohio Valley next week. Scattered thunderstorm chances return to the forecast on Tuesday. The latest track brings the center of what will be left of Barry over the Bluegrass on Wednesday.
