Humidity adds to high heat, storm chances throughout the week

The heat index will get close to 100° in some spots most days this week

Temperature and heat index for Tuesday, 8/10/2021

ROANOKE, Va. – We hope you were able to enjoy the lower humidity over the past several days. This coming week will be the polar opposite. We’ll start with Monday, in which temperatures will be similar to Sunday but the humidity will be slightly higher.

High temperature forecast for Monday, 8/9/2021

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With that in mind, we could see a few pop-up storms during the afternoon. These will happen on an isolated scale and mostly west of the Parkway. Come Tuesday, a southwest wind will translate to higher humidity levels. With dew points in the upper 60s to near 70°, that’s air you can wear.

Hour by hour dew points for Tuesday, 8/10/2021

That will lead to a heat index of 95-100° in the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg and Southside. That’s prior to the more scattered storms that will develop after lunchtime.

FutureTracker - Tuesday afternoon, 8/10/2021

Those storms are our only hope of cooling down each afternoon this week. Keep in mind that with temperatures in the 80s and 90s, along with high humidity, any storms that do develop will have the potential to become strong-to-severe. Localized flooding is a possibility too (yes, even though it’s been quite dry).

3-Day severe weather risk from Monday through Wednesday

We’ll stay under this pattern’s influence throughout the rest of the week. Hot, humid air will blow in from the southwest and trigger afternoon/evening showers and thunderstorms each day.

What we're tracking the week of 8/9 to 8/13/2021

By Saturday and Sunday, a front will be close by and could increase the amount of showers and storms we see. As that front blows through, we will likely see temperatures drop off Sunday into next week.

What we're tracking for the weekend of 8/14 and 8/15/2021

It’s at this point that we could be tracking a tropical system near the East Coast. A system nearing the Caribbean has a chance of developing within the next few days, so we’ll keep a close eye on its potential.

For daily updates on the heat index, the tropics, thunderstorm timing and threats, be sure to download our app.


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.

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