TULSA — The Tulsa metro, along with much of the central United States, will bake under an early summer heat wave as triple-digit heat indices will linger for at least a week, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Mike Lacy at NWS Tulsa tells KRMG “there’s no signs in the data over the next, you know, seven to ten days that the pattern’s going to break. So we’re gonna see this persistent ridge aloft that’s going to keep maintaining the heat over the south central plains.”

He said historically, Tulsa has its first day of triple-digit heat around July 10th, but that for the last couple of years it has tended to happen in June.

That was the case this summer, when Tulsa officially hit 100 degrees F. on June 23rd - just three days into the season.

However, Lacy cautioned against assuming that means the entire summer will be abnormally hot.

“There’s been years where we’ve had hot Junes, but that does not necessarily mean that’s going to continue through the entire summer,” Lacy noted.

He said there is a chance for a brief respite - perhaps a little bit of rain Tuesday into Wednesday - but any reduction in temperatures will be short-lived.