National Highlights

July temperatures in the northeastern United States have run as much as 6-8 degrees F above normal so far in July, and they will experience one more day of sweltering heat before a cold front brings some relief tomorrow. A heat advisory is in effect for the Megapolis from Boston to Washington, DC, including New York City. Highs in the big apple today are expected to reach the middle 90s. When combined with the humidity, heat index values will reach 100F. A big deal for them.

It was 98F yesterday at Burlington VT, a record for the date. The 100F at Newark tied the record for the date.

More heat out west where a heat ridge is hanging on stubbornly to its territory. Heavy advisories cover the valleys of western Nevada into the Sierra Nevada Mountains and interior valleys of California. It was 92F at Lake Tahoe yesterday, when the normal high is 82F. It was still a delightful 50F this morning, but that is still 8 degrees warmer than average.

Severe weather is possible later today from Portland and Boston back to just north of New York City into Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. New York City will see strong storms this evening.

The other chance for severe weather today will come across the High Plains of South Dakota, western Nebraska and eastern Colorado.

That pesky upper low that brought our wet weather last weekend has made the cross country trip and is exiting into the Pacific Ocean today. But not before bring a daily rainfall record to Las Vegas, intense lightning and flooding on The Strip and some wind damage last night. Winds gusted to 71 mph at Nellis AFB, where two inches of rain was reported in a short time.

Temperatures across the southern tier of states from Texas to the Carolinas are running as much as 4 degrees below normal. Here in Birmingham, the mean temperature through the 19th is 78.3F. This is 2.8F below the average mean temperature for July. We have only hit 90F four times. That normally happens 18.4 times in the month.

In South Florida, Miami recorded an all time record daily rainfall for July on Thursday, when 6.78 inches fell at MIA.

Category: Headlines