Heat and humidity arrives with heat index nearing 100

Feeling hot, hot, hot! Wednesday will likely be the hottest day we’ve seen so far this year.

As we get into the summer months, you’ll start to see a new product: the Heat Risk map. We’ll look into it from time to time, especially if some of Nebraska ends up in the higher categories.

What’s neat about this product is that the CDC and the National Weather Service partnered to make a map considering several factors about the heat and health concerns, including:

• How unusually above normal the temperatures are for a location
• Time of year (early summer versus mid/late summer)
• Duration of unusual heat
• Risk for heat complications

This product works to visualize what type of heat we’re expecting and how dangerous it can be.

Most of Nebraska is under the “Moderate” heat risk, meaning we’re expecting fairly common temperatures across the state for this time of year. Those that are at a higher risk today would be those exposed to the sun for longer periods of time.

Below is a look further into each category and what it means. Especially purple appears on this map, it’ll be important to take more precautions.

As for how hot southeast Nebraska will be, highs will be nearing the middle and upper 90s for Wednesday’s forecast. Winds will be out of the southwest, working to bring in the hotter air mass and humidity.

So it’ll be easy for the air to “feel like” temperatures nearing 100 degrees during the afternoon and evening.

It won’t be miserable all day. It would be better to move outdoor walks and activities to the morning hours if you can help it today!

We’ll also be on the lookout for a storm or two that tries to develop in northeast Nebraska. With the ingredients in place, any storms that form would quickly intensify and become severe.

A stronger storm or two will be possible in southern Nebraska on Thursday, before storms become more likely on Friday. We’ll be working on those details as we get closer to the end of the week.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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