The high heat of the past couple days — we hit 98° again on Wednesday, just one degree off the record high — will let up on Thursday as high pressure aloft continues to weaken. Don’t misunderstand: it’ll still be plenty hot, but not to the Advisory-level thresholds we’ve hit recently. After a start in the mid-70s, likely in the wake of thunderstorms that are expected late tonight into early Thursday morning, temperatures in the afternoon warm to the low 90s. Dewpoints will mix down to around 70°, so heat indices should stay relatively tame, with a brief spike into the upper 90s possible as the seabreeze pushes inland. A few showers and thunderstorms could pop on the seabreeze, as is often the case this time of year, but nothing out-of-bounds is expected.

Friday and the weekend: A scattering of afternoon storms as our stretch of 90° temperatures heads into a third week

Hot and humid conditions continue for Friday and the weekend. Moisture aloft will improve, and this will allow for greater coverage of showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of the seabreeze each afternoon, but as is typical for summer, not everyone will see a storm every day. Temperatures will generally run in the mid-70s each morning away from the locally warmer coastline, with highs peaking in the low-to-mid-90s each day. Heat indices will run in the upper 90s to around 100° at the peak of each afternoon; certainly hot, but not Advisory-level hot. This run of 90s is getting up there, though: Sunday should mark 16 consecutive days with a high temperature of 90° or above, and every indication is that we’ll close June and enter July with this streak intact. Stay cool out there — cumulative heat stress is very much a real thing and can be detrimental to health.

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