So far it has been a pretty dry summer, with only a few patterns that produce thunderstorms. We may break back into the pattern briefly Tuesday as a light southerly flow could bring up some monsoonal moisture as far north as the Reno area, although it appears the bulk of the action will be in the mountains and to our south. High temperatures will top out in the mid-90s most of the week, before climbing into the upper 90s by the weekend. A slight chance of Tuesday thunderstorms drops out as we will go back to mostly sunny conditions for the second half of the week.

As I mentioned, we have been pretty darn dry this summer. Because we are so arid around here, I don’t get asked the following question that often, but we aim to please:

“Hi Mike… Can you explain the “Heat Index” to me?”

I may have given some of it away by mentioning our relative dryness, but the Heat Index is sort of the summer’s equivalent to the wind chill in the winter. Just as wind makes cold temperatures feel even colder, high humidity makes hot temperatures feel even hotter. The Heat Index is an attempt to take humidity into account. The exact formula used to calculate Heat Index would make most of our heads spin, so I won’t bother putting it down. But tomorrow, I’ll give you some examples.