The heat is beginning to feel like deja vu, with one advisory after another.
The National Weather Service has placed South Florida under yet another heat advisory through Sunday — the latest in a string of similar warnings with no real end in sight. Next week could bring a small amount of relief, forecasters say, but only by a few degrees.
Broward County is under an excessive heat warning, the National Weather Service announced Friday afternoon, with heat indices or “feels-like” temperatures of 110 to 115 degrees.
Miami-Dade County is also under an excessive heat warning, though the county’s criteria is slightly lower than Broward and Palm Beach, needing heat indices to reach only 110 degrees, while the other two counties must reach 113 degrees.
The region can expect temperatures in the mid-90s Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. The east coast metro areas of Broward and Palm Beach are predicted to reach feels-like temps of 112 degrees, according to Luke Culver, a meteorologist for the weather service. Heat indices should remain in the 108-112 range through the weekend, continuing to exceed 110 degrees on Saturday. The heat advisory runs through 8 p.m. Sunday.
But the hot weather is, again, expected to last for the foreseeable future.
“The pattern we’re in is pretty persistent,” Culver said.
The current heat advisory could extend into early next week, he said, before a “slight cooling trend” brings the temperatures down, but only by a few degrees.
The range would likely be 105 to 110 degrees rather than 108 to 112.
“A few degrees does make a difference,” Culver said. “But overall it’s still going to be warm.”
The abnormally hot sea surface temperatures surrounding South Florida are adding to the stifling heat by driving up the dew point, or the amount of moisture in the air.
“The higher that is, the harder it is for the sweat on your skin to evaporate, because air is already so humid and moist,” Culver said.
The ocean, meanwhile, feels like bathwater, providing South Floridians with no escape. Even if the air starts cooling down, the high water temperatures will likely persist much longer.
“That kind of thing takes either a really major system or wind event or something like that to change,” Culver said. “… those sea surface temperatures, they can really just kind of take a punch and be same thing over and over again.”