Temperatures warm up heading into the late week

Our fantastic stretch of September weather continued Wednesday with another day filled with mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures across the area. The only blemish was a mid-level wave sliding through the region, which produced a few clouds and sprinkles out to our west before drifting eastward through the day. Afternoon highs warmed up a bit more with most locations topping out in the low to mid-80s, which is right around average for this time of the year. Humidity levels remained low so it continued to be pretty comfortable to be outdoors, especially in shady spots.

Temperatures will continue their upward trend into the late week as we get a dose of late summer warmth/heat as the upper level ridge over the eastern part of the country holds its own. Look for more sunshine across the area with afternoon highs climbing into the mid-80s so it will definitely be a touch warm during the heart of the day. Enough dry air in place should keep the comfort level in the good range with the early morning and evening being the best times to enjoy more pleasant conditions for any activities that you may have outside.

The upward swing in afternoon highs will roll along as we close out the week and head into the upcoming weekend so look for warmth to hot conditions across the commonwealth. Friday night looks good for high school football especially with things colling down during the evening, which is a nice change from all the stormy and disruptive weather that impacted games last Friday. Heading into Saturday, you’ll need to hydrate and wear plenty of sunscreen if you are going to be outside for any length of time as afternoon highs climb into the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. This includes tailgating prior to the Cats game against Eastern Michigan, which kicks off at 7:30pm over at Kroger Field. It should be an ideal night for football as temperatures cool through the 70s with kickoff just prior to sunset.

Hot weather will hang around for the 2nd half of the weekend and into early next week with highs in the upper 80s and even low 90s, especially here in the metro area on Sunday. As we’ve mentioned the last few days, some of the data is indicating a weakening cold front will drop into the Ohio Valley early next week with a very low chance of an isolated storm or two. At this point there is still that possibility but it looks like the upper ridge may be strong enough to keep those chances very low so as a result most spots should continue to be dry in the extended forecast.