Tracking a cooler and drier end to the week

TONIGHT: Showers and storms ending, mostly cloudy with lows in the upper 60s.

TOMORROW: Partly cloudy with highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s.

EXTENDED: Showers and storms exit the region over the next couple of hours, leaving us with mostly cloudy skies into the rest of the night. With the front to our south tomorrow, we can expect a dry start to Friday with winds coming from the north-northeast. This will keep us in the upper 70s to low 80s during the day. The best chances for rain will be just to our south into Saturday afternoon, but we could see more late day clouds. Saturday night into Sunday, a warm front slowly lifts north across the area. That will give us a chance at a few showers and storms, especially south of I-70. Lingering showers exit on Monday as we get back into a much hotter than normal pattern. The jet stream stays north of us for all of next week, keeping upper high pressure in place over our area. This will bring temperatures quickly into the upper 90s by Wednesday, with heat indices between 100-103. The latest drought monitor has much of southern Missouri in extreme drought, but I suspect that will get bumped down next week after accounting for the rounds of rain this week.