National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heat Wave Expands to the East Coast; Flash Flooding Likely in the Central Plains into the Midwest; Severe Thunderstorms in the Northeast

Dangerous, prolonged heat is ongoing in the Mid-South to Mid-Mississippi Valley and heat expands into the Northeast for a brief period today. Widely scattered instances of flash flooding due to heavy rains are forecast from northeast Kansas to much of Indiana. Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are possible across parts of New England, northern Mid-Atlantic, and North Dakota. Read More >

Overview

A large ridge of high pressure aloft set up over the center of the country around August 20th and lead to a week-long heatwave across our region. High temperatures were primarily only in the low to mid 90s most days, but the main headline was the extreme humidity levels witnessed over the entirety of this event. Portions of our region experienced very heavy rainfall amounts of 15 to 25 inches from July 1st through mid August. This set the stage for record levels of evapotranspiration from the vegetation and crops. Dew points, a measure of humidity levels, were routinely in the upper 70s to lower 80s, with several locations peaking in the mid 80s. Cape Girardeau and Paducah each tied their highest dew points on record of 83 and 82 degrees respectively. This caused heat index readings to peak between 105 and 120 degrees each day from August 20th through the 25th, and continued across southwest portions of the region on the 26th. The high humidity levels also led to dense fog formation several nights during this event, which was rather unusual for a prolonged heat wave.
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