Record Heat Today & Severe Weather Possible Tomorrow

We have lots of action going on in our area over the next few days. We kicked it all off today with highs far exceeding anything we had actually officially forecasted for today. We had some signs that this might happen, but with weather like this at this time of year we would typically see more clouds that would lessen the warming a bit. All of that being said - it was hot today! Look at some high temperatures that broke records as of our 6pm show:

On the left side of those numbers are the old record highs - and on the right are the new ones. Pretty impressive temperatures for late April!

Unfortunately, all good things must end - and instead of seeing our first 90s day on a weekend when we can enjoy it, we are looking at a cold front coming through and cooling things down. In addition to cooling we are looking for the potential of severe weather Friday. Right now it seems that the best severe risk will be in our eastern region of the viewing area - with the best chances for large hail and isolated tornadoes occurring to the far east & southeast. As for timing, there is some negative energy that will keep storms from forming at first - but it looks like by late afternoon/early evening that will start to erode and we'll see storms firing up.

Also, keep in mind that severe weather can also happen outside of these boundaries - this is just where the best chances are starting to show up. Stay tuned to KDLT for updates tomorrow once storms start firing up.

With all of our heat and winds we are seeing a risk of wildfires starting up - and thankfully we haven't seen anything big quite yet. While I was at the Bahamas Weather Conference last week I met a couple of chief meteorologists from stations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Look at what they're dealing with!

Keep these guys in your thoughts, as well as all the other people who live around there, and stay tuned to KDLT again for any severe weather.

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer