High heat followed by a few Thursday night storms, drop in humidity

Temperatures top out in the 90s for much of the area through Friday

Expected heat index Thursday afternoon

ROANOKE, Va. – High pressure over the Plains keeps the heat reinforced Thursday and Friday. Similar to the last few days, we’ll see highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s in the New River Valley and low to mid 90s elsewhere.

High temperature forecast for Thursday, 7/29/2021

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The humidity will be a little more present than it was Wednesday, so expect the heat index to approach 100° in parts of the area. That’s especially the case east of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Make sure you’re taking breaks, seeking shade and A/C and drinking plenty of water/electrolytes.

A front to the north will spark more showers and storms. Some of these will move into areas north of US 460 after 9 p.m. Thursday. The heat will add a little ‘umph’ to any storms that do survive into the area.

Severe weather outlook for Thursday, July 29th, 2021

By Friday, we’ll still be hot. A northwest breeze, however, will drop humidity levels gradually throughout the day.

Hour by hour dew points for Friday, 7/30/2021

The humidity stays low Saturday. It’s possible that a northeast wind wedges in some cooler air during the day. Since that’s only shown up once in the forecast data, however, we’ll keep temperatures in the low to mid 80s with a partly cloudy sky for now.

Our front lifts north a bit, providing us with the chance for Saturday night/Sunday showers and storms.

What we're tracking late Saturday night and Sunday morning

As the jet stream continues to dig deeper to the south, we wind up pulling more moisture into the region. This means a higher chance for rain next Tuesday and Wednesday with highs struggling to get out of the 70s.

What we're tracking by Tuesday, August 3, 2021

The Climate Prediction Center outlook shows that much of the first week of August will be below-average, temperature-wise.

Climate Prediction Center outlook for the 1st week of August

About the Author:

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.