Scorcher of a 4th: Charlotte saw hottest day of 2020 on Independence Day
Charlotte saw its hottest day of 2020 on Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologists said.
The temperature hit 94 degrees at Charlotte’s airport under mostly sunny skies, according to the latest NWS forecast Saturday night.
That was a degree hotter than the previous high mark for the year — 93 degrees — set on Friday, according to the NWS.
Charlotte’s normal high for June 30 through Aug. 5 is 89 degrees, according to NWS meteorologist Jake Wimberley.
“It will be warm,” Wimberley predicted Thursday of July 4 in the Charlotte area, with the same “sticky,” humid conditions we always expect this time of year.
Charlotte’s record high for July 4 is 99 degrees, set in 1993, Wimberley said.
Saturday saw a reprieve from thunderstorms that have struck parts of the region each night recently.
Credit a high-pressure weather system that’s forecast to move south into the Carolinas from the Great Lakes, Wimberley told the Observer. The system kept moisture at bay, he said, with only a 15% to 20% chance of showers Saturday, he said.
The thunderstorm-producing weather pattern that’s been stuck over the Carolinas this week moved from the area by then, he added.
Charlotte has a 50% percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 10 a.m. Sunday and again Monday, with respective highs of 90 and 87, the latest forecast shows.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 9:53 AM.