If you’ve been outside lately, you know it’s hot.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for most of our area through the weekend.
High temperatures will be in the mid-to-upper 90s. Those temperatures are not the only thing to be concerned about, says Patrick Collins, a meteorologist for the statewide weather monitoring system called KentuckyMesonet.
“Be careful of the temperature, as well as the heat index, which is the temperature added to the amount of humidity in the air."
Over the next few days, that combination will produce a heat index that feels more like 105-to-110 degrees. A heat index of 105 or higher is especially dangerous for children, the elderly and people who work outside.
It’s been an intense summer in Kentucky weather-wise. Before the heat wave, Kentucky had heavy rains that broke records in at least one location in the state.
Megan Schargorodski is operations manager for Kentucky Mesonet, which has 66 weather stations.
“Earlier in July we had an event in western Kentucky, in Marshall County, that experienced about 8 inches of rain in 5 hours. According to climatological charts, that's about a 1,000- year event.”
That means the area is only expected to get that much rain in that amount of time only about every 1,000 years.