After record-breaking heat over Memorial Day weekend, hot weather will stick around through the week, but cooling is on the way, said the National Weather Service.
In fact, next weekend will likely dip to “normal” June temperatures.
West Palm Beach reached 97 degrees F on Sunday afternoon, breaking the previous record of 96 degrees F set in 1928. That heat carried into Tuesday, with heat indices hitting 93 in Fort Lauderdale and 98 in West Palm Beach at 8 a.m.
Heat Indices on Tuesday will be in the triple digits, reaching as high as 106 to 107 degrees F.
Tuesday may see some relief later in the day, especially on the east coast, as showers and thunderstorms develop.
Forecasters are calculating a 61%-to-66% chance of showers along the coast from West Palm Beach south to Miami. The storms will be capable of heavy rain, gusty winds and small hail, forecasters said.
Fort Lauderdale area daytime highs will remain in the low 90s for most of the week, and begin to taper on Friday into the high 80s, reaching 86 by Sunday.
The Palm Beach County area will be just a tad cooler, with daytime highs this week in the high 80s, and tapering down to 84 on Sunday.
Heat indices for the coast should be in the mid- to low-90s over the coming weekend.
The weather service said temperatures will cool “closer to seasonable normals” with highs in the mid- to upper-80s on the east coast and lower 90s over the west coast and interior.
NWS meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez said that part of what will help cool things off is the increase in afternoon showers and thunderstorms through the week, which will offer some cloud coverage, a change from the lack of clouds over the past few weeks.
Additionally, she said a front over the Georgia-Florida border could drop through our area and bring temperatures closer to normal.
The weekend also should see winds shift from southerly to easterly. “With winds coming in from the east, that will provide some relief from the heat as well,” she said, “especially for those areas that are heavily populated along the coast.”