Heat Wave Hits Wilton, Prompts "Hazardous Weather Warning"

Try not to get stuck in over the next couple of days if you don't have air conditioning in your vehicle.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issued an alert for "sensitive groups" about high ozone levels along the coastline and the National Weather Service is warning of a "slight risk" of high winds and large hail this afternoon.

The DEEP's alert, called an "Air Quality Action Day," applies to southern Fairfield County and the southern parts of other Connecticut counties along the coast.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency warned, through its AirNow service, that air quality in cities and towns along the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound reached levels Monday of "unsafe for sensitive groups."

That means that although the "general public is not likely to be affected" by this level of ozone in the air, "people with lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk of exposure to ozone ... persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air."

The weather service said in a 4:34 a.m. “Hazardous Weather Outlook”  that for today and tonight, in the Connecticut counties along the coast and in the New York metropolitan area:

"The storm prediction center has placed the area in a slight risk for severe weather. Damaging winds and large hail are the main threats during the late afternoon and evening hours. Heavy rain is also possible, leading to urban flooding of poor-drainage and low lying areas."

The weather service is also warning of very high "heat indices" of “100 and 105 degrees on Thursday and 100 to 110 degrees on Friday” according to the “Hazardous Weather Outlook” issued for Wilton and Southern Fairfield County.

In its specific Wilton forecast for today, updated at 10:02 a.m., the National Weather Service is predicting a 60 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms, probably after 3 p.m. if it occurs. Only a tenth to a quarter inch of rain is in the forecast for Wilton, the weather service says, although more could fall in a thunderstorm. "Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain."

The weather service predicted a high temperature of 86 degrees today, although Patch's weather service (shown on the top of the Wilton Patch home page), Weatherbug already showed a temperature of 91.8 degrees as of 1 p.m. 

The weather service says there's a 70 percent chance of precipitation overnight, most likely before 3 a.m., in the form of showers and thunderstorms. A chance of showers and thunderstorms continues early Tuesday morning, mostly before 7 a.m. But at least it’ll cool off a bit: lows for this evening are predicted to be at 69 degrees.