Wednesday Evening Weather Blog: Hot, Hot, Hot

The heat wave is just beginning.  The warm front will be well north of the Ozarks by tomorrow afternoon and that means it will be toasty.  The excessive heat watch begins tomorrow and will continue through Saturday.  I expect the watch to be upgraded to an excessive heat warning by tomorrow.  What is an excessive heat warning?  An excessive heat warning is issued 12 hours before the onset of the heat wave, heat indices are forecasted to be 105 or greater for 3 hours per day for 2 consecutive days, or if heat indices are forecasted to hit 115 or greater for any time period.  An heat advisory is issued 12 hours before the onset of the heat wave, heat indices forecasted to be 105-114 for 3 hours in a day, or nighttime lows are forecasted to be greater than 80 for 2 consecutive days.  Since this heat wave is forecasted to last multiple days, we have the excessive heat watch right now.  If that is just confusing, it means it will be dangerously hot so plan accordingly.  The Fourth of July is looking to be dry right now.  A storm system will move through sometime early next week.  Right now it looks like Tuesday will be the day but it will need to be monitored for any changes.  Stay cool!