Not a Heat Wave

Yes, it is going to be hot tomorrow and Thursday.  People do need to take the proper precautions including checking on the elderly, drinking plenty of fluids while outside and avoiding hours of direct sunlight.  But it takes a lot more than two 90 degree days in a row for me to break out "heat wave."

It's sometimes easy to overlook the rest of the country after all these posts on tornadoes and our partly cloudy or partly sunny 75 to 80 degree days.  Apparently it has been quite warm in the central and southern U.S.  Even I almost overlooked this one.  Now for our area, the meteorological definition of a heat wave is three consecutive days of above 90 degrees.  Most of the rest of the country would laugh if they saw this.  It's like when winter storm warnings are posted for the south for 1-2 inches of snow and the cities shut down.

Take a look at some other places recently.

Chicago- With a predicted temp of 94 tomorrow, 4 of the last 5 days will hit 90

Minneapolis- Currently at 5:30 it is 102 degrees

St. Louis- Lowest high temp since May 29th was 87, once

Dallas- 11 straight days of 90+, everyday in June has been above 95, lowest temperature in the 10 day forecast is 95

Atlanta- 10 straight days of 90+ with the next 9 predicted to exceed 90, their average temps now are in the mid to upper 80's


Certainly we have to be mindful of the temperatures.  I already have a couple backup plans for my normal Thursday afternoon run.  But by Saturday, temps might struggle to get out of the 70's for a week.  And this past weekend, nightly temperatures were in the 40's.   

I'm personally not going to make a big deal out of two days of heat, but I won't have a problem if the local news does.  Like snow in the south, people just aren't expecting it.  So maybe constant warnings will save me from reading about people leaving their kids in the car.