We’ll trade the persistent rain of the last few days for a real taste of summer beginning on Thursday. Temperatures will easily rise into the low 90s in the afternoon under mostly sunny skies as high pressure builds in aloft and at the surface. The humidity will make it feel closer to 105°, which is as hot as the heat index has been all summer. Take appropriate precautions: Plenty of water, plenty of shade, and most importantly, look before you lock. One hot car death is too many.

Getting even hotter on Friday

Thursday will merely be an appetizer for the real heat that’s coming for Friday into the weekend. We’ll probably make it through July 29 without a 95° day at the airport, but that will certainly come to a close on Friday with a high of 98° — or 1° Lachey — in the afternoon. Plenty of humidity will send heat indices up toward 110° and beyond, possibly even spiking near 115° behind the slow-moving seabreeze.

We keep mid-90s heat in the forecast picture for Saturday and Sunday. A little more moisture and a little weaker ridging could allow for a few storms to pop through along the seabreeze on Saturday, while Sunday could potentially feature a thunderstorm complex moving in from the northwest for the afternoon. If such a complex comes through, we could potentially be looking at a gusty and perhaps damaging wind threat. These are tough to predict this far in advance, though, so we’ll be firmly in “wait and see” mode.

Ahead of any storms, though, plenty of heat and humidity will keep heat indices well into the 100s both days. Low temperatures will only drop to the upper 70s away from the coast, where we may not head below 80° for a few days. Heat stress could become an issue — please be sure to check on your neighbors, especially if they are particularly vulnerable to heat illness.

We will cool back to the 80s once the new work week begins, but that comes at the cost of plenty of showers and thunderstorms returning to the forecast. Summers in Charleston: Either it’s hot, or it’s raining. (Sometimes both!)

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