The weekend promises to be a scorcher: hot, hazy, and humid, with practically no chance of rain. National Weather Service meteorologist Hugh Cobb says weekend temperatures in Hampton Roads will climb as high as 96, with readings peaking at 98 in Williamsburg. Both figures are 8-10 degrees above normal, he said.
The daytime humidity will register between 60-65 percent – which, Cobb said, is about normal. But when the daytime temperature and humidity are both taken into account, a measure known as the heat index, Cobb said, it will feel like it’s between 110-115 degrees this weekend.
As a result, the weather service office in Sterling has issued a heat advisory for all of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, save the immediate Atlantic coast. “We’re asking people, especially high-risk people like the elderly and small children, not to do any strenuous outdoors activity,” Cobb said.
The reason for the high temperatures, he said, is the same weather system that baked the Midwest this past week, causing readings as high as 110 in portions of Kansas.
“We’re looking at a ridge of high pressure in the upper atmosphere that’s been parked over the Midwest for the past few days, and it looks like that ridge is coming east,” Cobb said. “At the surface, there is also high pressure. And the axis of that system, where the highest pressure is, lies over Virginia.”
Cobb also said there’s “very little chance of rain,” citing too much warmth in the upper atmosphere.
Temperatures in Hampton Roads may cool slightly at the beginning of next week – to the low-to-mid 90s, which is more typical for this time of year, Cobb said.
