Hotter weather has returned to South Florida with feels-life temperatures in the 100s this weekend accompanied by a possibility of showers.
Starting Thursday, temperatures hit the upper-80s and low-90s in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. On Friday and into the weekend, high temperatures will rise to the lower-90s along the coast and hit the mid-90s around inland areas, while overnight temperatures will hover around the upper-70s and low-80s.
The heat indices, though, will soar between 103 and 108 in most areas, said Luke Culver, a Nation Weather Service forecaster. Inland areas in Palm Beach County will feel as hot as 110, where excessive heat risk will also be the strongest all weekend.
According to the NWS, the likelihood of heat disorders spurred by prolonged exposure to the heat or “strenuous activity” rises with each degree. Most of South Florida will find itself in the “Danger” category this weekend due to the high heat index.
“The best way to describe it is really anything in the orange or the red, it’s kind of a concern for anyone that is without effective cooling or good enough hydration,” Culver said. “So anyone outside for prolonged periods of time that aren’t in air conditioning or have some way of cooling down in the shade or don’t have adequate hydration. That’s where you could have some potential heat-illness issues.”
Rain may also move through the region, with chances for showers picking up on Friday to about 50% to 70%. For the weekend, chances for scattered thunderstorms will remain in the 50% to 60% range, but there is not likely to be a widespread storm, Culver said.
Might the showers lead to a slight cooldown?
“Those areas that get hit might cool down for a little bit, but then they’ll warm back up once the sun comes back out,” Culver said. Storms “aren’t necessarily going to drive the cooling.”
“It’ll probably feel a little stickier,” he said.
For early next week, the forecast is a little more promising.
“It looks like it’ll gradually start to cool down,” he said. “After Sunday, things will probably cool a few degrees Monday and then a few more degrees Tuesday.”
Temperatures early next week will drop slightly, though, with Monday seeing temperatures in the low-90s rather than the mid-90s, Culver said, and on Tuesday, highs are expected to stay around the upper-80s and low-90s.
Hardly a ‘cooldown,’ but still something.
