Tracking a mild night, brutal heat Thursday

TONIGHT: Mostly clear and warm with lows in the mid-upper 70s.

TOMORROW: Mostly sunny and brutally hot with highs in the upper 90s. Heat index between 103-104.

EXTENDED: Tomorrow looks similar with a start in the mid-upper 70s and highs around 96-97. Kickoff temperatures at Memorial Stadium will be in the low 90s with a heat index in the upper 90s. Tailgating will be brutally hot, so hydrating will be a must. The Heat Advisory continues through Saturday night, and we're expecting a bit of a retrograde in high pressure for the rest of the holiday weekend. That means we'll be under more of a northwesterly flow, however surface winds look light, and the "cool down" will be to the low 90s. Rain chances continue to look minimal, with perhaps a few spot showers over the weekend as the main cluster of storms looks to traverse across Illinois. Next week, heat prevails as the high pressure system presses back east, but there's disagreement between global forecast models on when that pattern could start to flatten toward the end of the week. We may start to see a slight cool down and/or rain chances by the end of next week or weekend, but prior to that, intense heat looks to return with highs in the mid-90s. The lack of rainfall could rapidly enhance drought conditions across southern Missouri in the next 1-2 weeks.