Temperatures this weekend could feel like they’re 100 degrees.
“There’s at least a low chance of heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees,” said Patrick Saunders, a meteorologist who works in the Cleveland office of the National Weather Service.
The forecast for North Central Ohio is expected to warm up throughout the week with highs of about 84 degrees on Wednesday, 78 on Thursday, 84 Friday and 86 Saturday.
Then things get even hotter for at least three days — maybe more.
“We already have a high temperature of 90 in Richland County on Sunday,” Saunders said. “There’s good confidence on Sunday, Monday and probably at least Tuesday, and then there is decent confidence that it stays around for a little bit longer.”
High heat could stay for several days
The weather service only forecasts with certainty about seven days in advance, but early indications are that high temperatures throughout the region could be 90 degrees or hotter on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Add in high humidity with a dewpoint above 70% Saturday through Tuesday could make each day feel unbearably hot.
The overwhelming period of intense heat will spread well beyond the Buckeye State as well.
“It’s not just going to be like us locally that’s hot,” Saunders said. “Much of the eastern half of the country is going to be hot.”
High atmospheric pressure will trap the hot air for several days. Some are already calling it a heat dome.
‘Large area of hot weather’
“That’s just a generic term that covers extreme heat,” Saunders said. “The large area of hot weather, in more advanced terms, is more like a high pressure surface or an upper level ridge.”
Whatever it’s called, meteorologists aren’t sure how long it might stick around.
“I think there’s pretty good confidence that it will be around for several days,” Saunders said. “Once it gets to like Tuesday or Wednesday, we’ll start to get precipitation chances, and storms when it’s hot like that usually cools things down.”
If storm clouds arrive early in the weekend, the high heat may never fully settle in.
“This far out, there’s a lot of things that can affect that kind of thing,” Saunders said. “If it’s cloudy, that will limit the temperature and heat index.”
ztuggle@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Prepare for a ‘heat dome’ to reach Ohio this weekend
Reporting by Zach Tuggle, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
