Today will be the last day of a heat index in the triple digits. A cold front coming through tomorrow will break the heat wave. Those are the weather headlines but there is so much more to the weather story.
Today is an ALERT DAY because of a forecast high of 100°, and heat index values of at least 105°. (The record high temperature this day is 101° set in 2010.) The real bottom line to this day’s heat is it will feel hotter than yesterday, and with more humidity that much more uncomfortable. It would be wise to hydrate early and often today ESPECIALLY if you are without air conditioning, or if you plan to be outside playing. Some thunderstorms fired up in Southwestern PA this morning and we might see some shade cloud spill over from that for at least a while midday and into the early afternoon. That sun is unrelenting with very little shade since Thursday.
Tomorrow we will have a beefy cold front cut across the Mid-Atlantic. 93° tomorrow, then back to the upper 80’s on Tuesday. Finally. But thunderstorms are expected to fire up along the leading edge of the new air mass and the Storm Prediction Center has the majority of the state in a “slight” risk for severe weather. It is only Western Maryland that is in the “Marginal Risk” for severe storms, so we need to stay quite weather aware.
The rest of the week will feature a temperature roller coaster bouncing back and forth between 88° and 92°. But no big burst of heat. The front coming through tomorrow will stall nearby and after clearings skies on Tuesday we will enter a chance of spotty thunderstorms in the forecast area for Wednesday.