Charlotte could soon see hottest days of 2020. Here’s the latest on storm threat
Charlotte could see its hottest days of the year Sunday and Monday with an expected high of 96 both days, according to the National Weather Service.
Charlotte hit its previous mark of 95 on July 4 and July 14, NWS meteorologist Jake Wimberley said Friday.
As temperatures and humidity climb, so generally do the prospects of more severe storms, Wimberley told The Charlotte Observer.
Numerous thunderstorms could develop Friday afternoon and evening across the Charlotte area, N.C. mountains and foothills, and upstate South Carolina, according to an NWS hazardous weather outlook bulletin just before 11 a.m. Friday.
“Cloud-to-ground lightning, brief heavy rainfall, and gusty winds may occur with any storm,” NWS meteorologists said in the bulletin. “A few storms may produce damaging wind gusts.”
Charlotte Douglas International Airport has a 50 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms Friday afternoon, a 40 percent chance Friday night and a 50 percent chance Saturday morning and afternoon before the threat drops to 20 percent at night, according to the latest NWS forecast at 1 p.m. Friday.
Highs could reach 92 Friday, 94 Saturday and 93 Tuesday, NWS forecasters said.
The NWS forecasts a heat index of 100 on Saturday. The heat index is what the temperature feels like “when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature,” according to Weather.Gov.
NWS forecasters have yet to release the expected heat index for Sunday and Monday.
Charlotte’s normal high for June 30 through Aug. 5 is 89 degrees, Wimberley previously told the Observer.