Oppressive Heat At Its Worst. Heat Wave Records.

Already today, temperatures in most of Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana have already risen into the low to mid 90's as of 11:00 a.m.  The current temperature in Antwerp is a toasty 95 degrees, while in Defiance it is 93.  In Fort Wayne it is also 93, while in Toledo it is currently 96.  Dew points are also running high with Antwerp and Fort Wayne's dew point at 74, while at Toledo and Defiance it is 76, causing heat indices around 105.  Temperatures will continue to rise this afternoon, with most areas seeing 99 or 100 and a few seeing 101 to 104, especially around Toledo.  This afternoon, a shower or heavy thunderstorm is possible, but at a very small chance.  Any thunderstorm that hits will bring much needed relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, and alleviate dry conditions.  Lows will generally be in the middle 70's, with some areas dropping into the lower 70's, while others, especially near Toledo will drop into upper 70's to lower 80's.  Tomorrow, the excessive heat warning continues with temperatures once again expected to hit the mid 90's, with very high dew points allowing for the heat index to rise to near 105 to 110 once again.  On Friday, we have a much better chance for a shower or thunderstorm as a cold front approaches from the northwest, causing the cap to weaken.  The very hot temperatures and high humidity, will allow for extremely high instability to build into the region.  This combined with a weakening cap will allow very large and dangerous thunderstorms to form, but in a very isolated fashion.  The best chance for these storms will be across southern Michigan. On Saturday, the cold front will slow down quite a bit and become a stationary front in southern Michigan, which will allow the heat to stay here for another day or two.  Saturday's highs will hit the mid 90's, along with high humidity.  This will create extreme instability, and allow for an even better chance for storms than on Friday.  These storms will likely arrange themselves in thunderstorm complexes, which will bring the area heavy rain.  The same set up will happen again on Sunday, but with temperatures in the lower 90's.  On Sunday, more thunderstorm complexes will form bringing additional heavy rain.  By Monday, the cold front will slide through, dropping temperatures into the middle to upper 80's.
      According to the National Weather Service, the heat wave that has hit are area in the last week and a half, will be the longest duration heat wave since 1994, if the forecast goes as planned.  In all of the last decade, Fort Wayne has not recorded a single heat wave with more than five days in a row of 90 degree temperatures, but this heat wave, if the forecast goes as planned, will have nine days in a row of 90 degree heat, with possibly a one hundred degree day today, if no thunderstorms form.  In the history of Fort Wayne, there has only been 14 times in the 120 years of records that we have had a heat wave of nine consecutive days of 90 degree temperatures.  Some of the temperatures that have already occurred in the heat wave are the hottest in at least 12 years.