Summer Begins with a Blaze

A Heat Advisory is in place for much of eastern Massachusetts as the first official heat wave of the year is upon us. 

A three day stretch of high temperatures in the nineties is forecasted for most of southern New England starting Wednesday, ending late Friday. This will be the first day of ninety degree temperatures in our neck of the woods since mid-April, when high temperatures reached the low nineties for a day.

A fairly standard set-up for high heat is expected to occur across the region with this hot spell. The jet stream, a divider of warm and cool air masses, will be far to our north, leaving us under a ridge of high pressure. Clockwise flow around the high, located south of New England, will cause southwesterly winds to pump warm humid air into the northeast starting early Wednesday. 

High temperatures for both Wednesday and Thursday will likely reach between 95F and 97F in interior Essex and Middlesex counties. A hint of a cool down Friday still has forecasts showing temperatures topping out right around 90F. Heat indexes, the apparent temperature combining the actual temperature and humidity, will be in the low 100’s.

Record daytime high temperatures at Lawrence Municipal Airport for both June 20, and June 21, are 96F. It is very possible these records could be tied or broken this week.

The heat spell will likely be broken Friday night as an approaching cold front will ignite scattered thunderstorms across New England. Temperatures behind the cold front will be in the upper seventies for the weekend, right on par with climatological averages.