(Garden City, KS) (westernkansasnews.com)

While this week’s heat wave is projected to culminate in at least eight consecutive days of triple-digit daytime high temperatures, it may not break a record.  Southwest Kansas has had plenty of experience with persistent heat waves and the current one causing sweat to form on brow will likely make it  into the record books as one of the top ten consistent periods of extreme heat in the Sunflower state’s history. 

Dodge City based National Weather Service forecaster Larry Ruthi says that at least a slight chance of showers in the form of thunderstorms returns to the region this weekend.  Ruthi says that while the current trend in hot weather isn’t necessarily an indicator of a hotter than normal summer, the long-term forecast does call for hot and dry conditions to continue.  Ruthi says meteorologists are tracking a potential buildup of El Nino weather patterns in the Pacific that may translate into more rain this autumn.