This weekend features no shortage of significant weather headlines that are led by stifling heat, excessive rainfall, and severe weather.
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Shining the spotlight on the heat first, a searing heat wave is set to engulf much of the West Coast, the Great Basin, and the Southwest.
This is the result of an upper level ridge of high pressure over the southwestern U.S.
that is forecast to strengthen throughout the weekend.
Friday will feature some record heat in parts of the Southwest, but record-breaking heat expands even more throughout the region on Saturday.
Daytime highs by Saturday will range between 105-115F from the Great Valley of CA to the Desert Southwest.
Some parts of the desert region of southern CA, southern NV, and southern AZ could see daytime highs top 120F.
Farther east, oppressively hot and steamy conditions will persist from Texas and the Lower MS Valley to Florida.
Heat indices today look to range between 100-110F on average, with up to 115F readings possible along the immediate cast of Texas and Louisiana.
Expect similar heat indices in the South Central U.S. and Florida on Saturday.
In addition to the sizzling high temperatures and heat indices, morning lows across the southern tier of the U.S. will remain exceptionally warm, providing little in the way of relief to these affected regions.
Numerous Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories have been issued from the West Coast to South Florida, resulting in over 93 million Americans being placed under one of these two heat-related hazards.
For more information on the scope of the heat and its impacts, please visit heat.gov for more information.
Elsewhere, a pair of frontal boundaries; one in the Northeast and another crossing the Nation's Heartland will be the focus for widespread heavy showers and thunderstorms.
In terms of Excessive Rainfall, a few Slight Risks (threat level 2/4) have been posted for portions of the Mid-South, the southern Mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast.
Flood Watches are in place for parts of these affected regions early this morning.
There is a more serious Moderate Risk (threat level 3/4) in place for parts of southern NY and central New England where the combination of torrential downpours over the region's highly saturated soils make them particularly vulnerable to flash flooding.
There is also a threat for severe weather as the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk for the Central Plains and a Marginal Risk that includes not only areas from the central High Plains to the Great Lakes, but also the I-95 megalopolis from Richmond/Washington D.C. to NYC and Boston.
By Saturday, most of the eastern third of the Lower 48 is under a Marginal Risk (threat level 1/4).
WPC's Excessive Rainfall Outlook also highlights the southern High Plains with a Slight Risk.
The Storm Prediction Center indicates the best threat for severe weather is forecast to occur in the eastern Great Lakes, Upper Ohio Valley, and central Appalachians where a Marginal Risk has been issued.
For those wanting to escape the heat this weekend, the Upper Midwest and both the central and northern High Plains will see a pair of cold fronts inject seasonally cooler temperatures from Canada into these regions.
Daytime highs will range anywhere from 5-15 degrees below normal there.
The driest conditions are set to occur in the western third of the U.S., the Dakotas, and along the western Gulf Coast. ■