Saturday, July 4, 2020

Get ready for a heat wave over the Fourth of July weekend

From JSOnline:
Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


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Spend a lot of time outdoors this Fourth of July weekend and it could feel like roasting on a barbecue grill along with hamburgers and hot dogs.
A heat wave is settling in over southern Wisconsin with heat indexes — that's a combination of temperature and humidity — that will make it feel like it's in the low to mid-90s, according to the National Weather Service.
High temperatures in the metro Milwaukee area, away from the lakefront, are forecast around 90 on Saturday and Sunday. Combined with dew points in the mid 60s — which means uncomfortable, sticky weather — and it could mean air conditioners will work overtime.
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All this warmth comes courtesy of a ridge in the upper atmosphere that's funneling in heat from the south, said Kevin Wagner, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Sullivan.
"The pattern will just be sitting over us and will continue to bring in warmer, humid air this weekend and into next week," Wagner said Friday afternoon.
Temperatures in southeastern Wisconsin are expected to reach the low 90s through most of next week, too. However, since the air is relatively dry, rain and storms are not forecast to dampen any Independence Day weekend festivities.
Which means it would have been great weather to watch Fourth of July parades and fireworks displays. That'll have to wait until next year.
Temperatures are not likely to break any records, especially since the record high for July 4 in Milwaukee and Madison was 102 degrees set in 2012. The coldest Fourth of July on record in Milwaukee was a brisk 45 degrees set in 1963; Madison's coolest was 44 set in 1972.
The average high temperature for this time of year in Milwaukee is 78 and 81 in Madison.

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