Today is going to be the start of some dangerous heat over the eastern U.S. The heat waves have been brutal lately across the Deep South and the southwestern U.S. However, that heat is spreading north and east today. Temperatures will be near 100 all the way up to Minneapolis.
Locally our temps will run up into the mid-upper 90s. However, the heat and humidity combined will make it feel like its 102-105 degrees.
Due to these numbers we have a Heat Advisory for most of the region today AND tonight.
High pressure is finally sliding offshore. This “Bermuda High” pattern typically sets up for weeks or months during the Summer, and it pumps in the heat from the southwest.
However, we haven’t really had that for the past month or two. Instead we’ve had a lot of fronts come in and stall out over the region with only weak high pressure from time-to-time. This setup will provide us with a steady southwest wind today and tomorrow. There also won’t be much rain in the region. I only see a stray shower or storm in the whole area during the day today. We’ll be mostly to partly sunny. Keep in mind that there may be a few storms tonight around the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, and/or Eastern Shore, but some models have trended quieter overnight.
Tomorrow we’ll have a similar setup, but the heat and humidity will both increase a little more. So we’ll start out near 80 degrees in the morning. High temps will climb to the upper 90s during the afternoon.
By the way…both today and tomorrow there may be a couple of 100s inland. Either way our heat index will be worse. Tomorrow it could rise to 105-110 degrees.
This is why we have an Excessive Heat Watch for tomorrow and Saturday. We’ll be partly cloudy with some isolated showers or storms. There will be a southwest breeze at 8-12mph. We’ll have similar weather on Saturday, but there will be a little better chance for a few showers and storms in the afternoon and evening. A cold front will move into the region on Sunday, but the forecast models have slowed it down a little. So we’ll probably be more in the low 90s. However, the heat index may still be in the mid-upper 90s. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds with some scattered showers and thunderstorms. We should finally cool down to the 80s by Monday.
The only thing we are watching in the tropics is a weak tropical disturbance in the eastern Atlantic. It is moving to the west. It has a low chance of formation in the short-term, but it has a medium chance of formation for when it reaches a zone just northeast of the Lesser Antilles.
If it were to form in that area, then it would probably head northwest. At that point it would probably head closer to Bermuda, but we’ll see. We’ll watch it over the next couple of days, but for now we are focused on the local heat.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler
