The warm and humid air is back for more today. This summer has been the summer of humidity, not so much the summer of heat. That’ll change later this week. Today is not about the heat, though. We’ll climb to the middle 80s with muggy and sticky air back for more. You’ll probably notice a touch more humidity today than what it felt yesterday. We’ll also see a few storms pop up this afternoon and evening.
The storms we see later today will be scattered and it won’t storm everywhere nor will it storm all afternoon and evening long. It will be on and off, probably more off than on. That said, with the humidity and warm air in place, that’ll be enough storm fuel to produce a few strong or severe storms. I think our main threat will simply be downpours and lightning. Lightning can be plenty dangerous and you should head inside if you hear thunder or see lightning, but it’s not enough for a storm to be classified as severe. The severe component of the storms today will likely be gusty wind. Notice on the severe weather scale, we’re on the low end of things, so it’s not a great chance, but it’s not a zero chance.
From there we crank up the heat for the rest of the week. The heat dome that’s baking the west will expand eastward starting Wednesday and lasting through Saturday, though the heat will peak on Friday for us. Again, today we’re not bad, but it only get’s hotter each day through Friday.
By Wednesday we’ll see our first 90° day (excluding the Cape) but with the humidity will feel like it’s in the 90s.
Thursday we’ll not only bring temperatures up a few more degrees, but watch for a few more storms as well. Temperatures will climb to the lower 90s (cooler on the Cape) on Thursday, but with the humidity it will again feel like the mid to upper 90s. The storm chance looks to hold off until later in the day (evening hours) but like today, some of those could be strong to severe. I think the chance for strong to severe storms Thursday is a little bit higher than today. Today is level 1/5 on the severe weather scale. Right now, Thursday looks to be a 2/5.
Then Friday the heat peaks. We’ll send air temperatures well into the 90s (again, not the Cape) but it will feel like it’s around 100° with the humidity. Right now there are no heat advisories to talk about but that’s because we’re just a little too far out from the heat yet. I’d expect heat advisories starting possibly as soon as tomorrow (Wednesday) and lasting through Friday, if not Saturday.
Saturday won’t be *AS hot, but it will still be plenty hot. In fact, it wouldn’t shock me if a few towns hit 90° again on Saturday. I’m going with 89° though, because I don’t think 90° is widespread like it will be over the next few days. Along with another hot day, it’s another day of scattered storms, but this time those storms will break the heat and send in much more comfortable air (both temperatures and humidity) for Sunday and Monday of next week.
For many of us this stretch will be our first heat wave of the year. A few inland towns did it right after the 4th of July (Nashua and Fitchburg) but most of us have not. I think that’ll change this week with most of us seeing a heat wave starting Wednesday and lasting through Friday. I do think the wind should be strong enough Wednesday to push the sea breeze out in Boston and hit 90° and then of course more likely Thursday and Friday.
