MIDLAND People in the Permian Basin can expect the temperatures to increase this week as the region continues in the triple digits.
Wednesday’s high of 103 is almost surely to be surpassed over the next few days with an expected high of 104 degrees today and 106 on Friday.
Forecaster at the National Weather Service in Midland Devin Chehak says that last week’s rain has helped make it cooler in the mornings but said that as it dries up, the temperatures will continue to increase in the coming days.
“The dry has been staying to the west (of the region) likely because of all the moisture that we’ve had in the mornings, especially this (Wednesday) morning,” Chehak said. “All this moisture from the rains we had at the end of May and early June is helping keep us slightly cooler but it looks like with repeated days of hot and dryer weather, it’ll get hotter.”
The triple digit temperatures should continue into the weekend with a high of 102 and low of 72 on Saturday before getting back into the 90s on Sunday and early next week.
“With this continued warmth, it’s going to get very hot and at least for portions of the regions, especially south in the region, we’ll get into heat advisories and will continue seeing warming of temperatures,” Chehak said.
A heat advisory was in effect for areas in the southern part of the Permian Basin including Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster and portions of Culberson and Reeves Counties Wednesday, where the temperatures in those places ranged from 100-110 degrees.
“It’s the kind of temperatures that you want to be very careful with and avoid being around and staying hydrated, keeping cool and eliminating outdoor activity, that’s sort of thing,” Chehak said.
As far as record-breaking temperatures, Chehak says the Permian Basin will be very close this week but will be a few degrees off.
The record high for Midland for June 9 is 106. The record high for June 10 is 105 and 107 on June 11.
“We won’t likely break any of those records but we’ll be a few degrees off,” Chehak said. “It’ll definitely be very warm, even for this type of year.”
As far as records go, numerous severe weather episodes occurred during May in which most prolific stretch took place in the second half of the month.
Last month saw top storm events which included softball-sized hail in Snyder, baseball-sized hail and a tornado south of Forsan on May 17 and a long track supercell which produced a brief tornado near Lamesa on May 18.
The National Weather Service in Midland issued 205 severe thunderstorm warnings and 16 tornado warnings throughout the month.
“It was an active month of severe weather for the month of May,” Chehak said. “It was even up there with 2019 with how much severe weather we had.”
Sheriff Mike Griffis said Wednesday that even though Ector County commissioners rescinded their county-wide burn ban Tuesday, citizens should still be cautious about burning brush or trash or starting campfires.
“The burning embers could be taken to a neighbor’s house or anything that might be combustible,” Griffis said. “Even though we have had plenty of rain in the last few weeks, you should still be careful about a neighbor’s property and your own property.
“If you burn a large area or a large pile of brush, it would be a great idea to contact your local volunteer fire department and let them know so they can be aware of what’s going on there in case it gets out of hand. I hope the rain continues not only for the danger of fire but also because our good earth could sure use some more moisture.”
