Breakfast Brief: East U.S. storms, Plains heat

Showers and thunderstorms are forecast across a large portion of the eastern U.S., while the western half of the country remains dry and exceptionally hot in some areas.

The work week starts with general showers and thunderstorms from the Midwest to Florida. The culprit is a low-pressure system that will gradually shift east across the eastern half of the country throughout the week. Expect the focus area of showers and thunderstorms to shift east following this storm as the week progresses.

East of the Mississippi River, the main story will be about above-average temperatures and wildfires that continue to pump smoke into the atmosphere. The Central Plains will see the highest above average temperature on Monday with temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees above average.

Meanwhile, nearly 100 wildfires are burning across the U.S. West Coast and southwest Canada, with the most severe fires in Oregon and Washington. The fires are causing extensive smoke and haze, worsening air quality in the region.

The tropics remain relatively calm except for the western Pacific, where an area of low pressure may continue to organize into a tropical cyclone over the next couple of days. However, impacts to the U.S. are not expected. Deep Saharan dust is taking over the Caribbean, limiting storm formation, but this dust will erode, and the weather pattern might turn more favorable for development next week. We are monitoring a tropical wave, still very far from the continental U.S.

We've made a few changes to the Weather & Radar app on Android. When you delete your old home location, your current location becomes your new home location. This update is available with version 2024.15.1.