For the remainder of the week, hot weather will remain focused across the south-central U.S., while extreme heat will return across the Desert Southwest.  By early next week, heat will expand northward in the western U.S., while cool conditions will prevail across the northern Plains and the Midwest.  During the next several days, a low-pressure system laden with moisture associated with the Southwestern monsoon circulation will drift eastward across the northern U.S.  Five-day rainfall totals could reach 1 to 3 inches or more from the northern Rockies into the Great Lakes and Northeastern States. 

…