‘Heat wave’ to blanket Charlotte and Raleigh, NWS says. Here’s the latest forecast.
Good news for Carolinians enduring high monthly heating bills this winter:
Charlotte, Raleigh and Rock Hill can expect temperatures 30 degrees above normal toward the end of the work week, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Saturday.
Charlotte could tie its record high temperature for February, NWS records show.
It’s almost impossible to imagine, given Charlotte’s lows in the 20s and 30s Saturday morning.
Credit a weather system that’s predicted to reach the Carolinas from the tropical Caribbean Sea, meteorologist Chris Horne of the NWS office in Greer, South Carolina, told The Charlotte Observer.
On Thursday, the highs in Charlotte, Raleigh and Rock Hill could soar to 82 degrees, according to the NWS forecasts for the cities at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“We have a strengthening subtropical upper-level high area extending from the tropics that is driving this,” Horne said “The quote-un-quote heat wave will be on Thursday.”
Charlotte could tie record
Charlotte and Raleigh see average highs of about 54 degrees each Feb. 1 and 60 degrees by Feb. 28, Horne said. The average daily highs for the cities usually fall within a degree of each other, he said.
At 82 degrees, Charlotte’s high on Thursday would tie the city’s record for February. The city reached 82 three times over the decades, on Feb. 16, 2018; Feb. 27, 2011; and Feb. 25, 1930, NWS records show.
Raleigh’s record February high stands at 84 degrees, set on Feb. 26, 1977, Horne said. The city also reached 83 a couple of times over the decades, he said.
Rock Hill set its February high record at 83 degrees on Feb. 27, 1996, Horne said.
Regional forecasts
Highs for Charlotte, Raleigh and Rock Hill are expected to dip into the low 70s by the weekend, still well above the normal daily average highs, Horne said.
Highs over the week are predicted to gradually climb in the cities.
For Charlotte, the NWS predicts highs rising from 54 Saturday to 57 Sunday, 67 Monday, 70 Tuesday and 77 Wednesday.
In Raleigh, highs could climb from 52 Saturday to 60 Sunday, 67 Monday, 71 Tuesday and 76 Wednesday, according to the forecast.
In Rock Hill, the forecast calls fro highs of 54 Saturday, 58 Sunday, 68 Monday, 70 Tuesday and 78 Wednesday.
Fire risk
On Tuesday morning, Feb. 21, NWS meteorologists warned of increased fire danger in the Charlotte area through the evening.
A “warm and dry air mass” was expected to drape the region during the day, with relative humidity values predicted to drop into the upper 20s to lower 30s, according to an NWS alert.
Compounding the fire risk: Wind gusts up to 30 mph are forecast across the Piedmont, NWS meteorologists said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 10:09 AM.