Topline
Forecasters expect an early season stretch of hot weather to break daily heat records across the Great Plains, Midwest and Northeast this week, and forecasters warn high winds and low humidity could increase the risk of fires.
Temperatures could break daily records across the east coast and midwest this week.
Key Facts
A high pressure system is expected to bring daily high temperatures into the 80s in parts of the Midwest on Wednesday, and top 80 degrees Fahrenheit by Friday in the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service, which warns high temperatures and gusty winds could also increase the risk of fire.
High temperatures could be between 10 and 20 degrees above normal, according to AccuWeather meteorologists, starting in the Great Plains states Tuesday before moving eastward.
The daily high Tuesday is expected to top 80 degrees in St. Louis and Omaha and come close to 80 degrees in Chicago on Tuesday, with the NWS’s Chicago branch calling it “more like a June forecast.”
By Wednesday, temperatures will climb into the 80s in Minneapolis, and reach the 80s in Albany, New York, Baltimore, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. on Friday, according to AccuWeather.
Akron, Ohio, is expected to reach 82 degrees Friday, which would tie a daily record set in 1941, while Albany could reach 83 degrees and New York City could hit 85 degrees—both tying records.
Big Number
86 degrees. That’s how hot it could get in Philadelphia on Friday, just five degrees away from an 82-year record. Forecasters also predict Washington D.C. will hit 87 degrees on Thursday.
Surprising Fact
High temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds typically create the devastating formula for wildfires, though the Northeast and Midwest, where the hot weather is expected this week, are usually spared from the kind of intense wildfires that have wreaked havoc on the Rocky Mountains and West Coast in recent years, mostly due to wetter conditions on the East Coast and Great Lakes. This week, however, the National Weather Service has issued “special weather statements” for the entirety of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as most of New York, northern Indiana and Illinois, where forecasters warn dry and windy conditions will increase the risk of wildfire. Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, meanwhile, are under so-called red flag warnings in effect through Tuesday night, with low humidity and wind gusts up to 35 mph posing “potentially critical fire weather conditions.” NWS Chicago warned strong winds could make brush fires spread quickly and possibly bring them out of control, while NWS Wilwaukee posted a tweet urging people to “be mindful of the fire danger.”
Tangent
Multiple daily heat records were broken Monday, including in Tucson, Arizona, which hit 97 degrees, and Boise, Idaho, which hit 82 degrees.
Further Reading
Sacramento And San Jose Break All-Time Heat Records: These Are The Key Record-Breaking Temperatures For Summer 2022 (Forbes)
Heat Wave Watch: Here’s Where It Will Be Dangerously Hot In The U.S. This Week (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/04/11/heat-records-expected-to-fall-across-midwest-northeast-this-week-heres-where-it-will-be-hottest/