‘Dangerously Hot’ Temps, Excessive Heat Advisories Continue In FL: NWS

FLORIDA — Excessive heat advisories remain in place Thursday for much of Florida as cities throughout the state have reached record-high temperatures in recent days, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency issued an excessive heat warning for most of the state for the first time since it began keeping records on Wednesday, Patch previously reported.

On Wednesday, Ruskin, where the NWS’s Tampa Bay office is located, set a new record daily high temperature of 97 degrees, the agency said. And Sarasota and Bradenton tied their daily high temperature records with a temperature of 96 degrees.

Tampa and Fort Myers tied their daily high temperature record Tuesday at 96 degrees and 97 degrees, respectively, while Punta Gorda set a record daily high that day at 98 degrees.

The heat isn’t going away any time soon.

“Hot weather is forecast to continue through early next week,” NWS Tampa Bay wrote in a Facebook post.

On Thursday, these advisories are in place across most of the state from about 11 a.m. until about 8 p.m.

South Florida will see heat index values up to 115 degrees and “dangerously hot conditions” across the entire region, the NWS Miami office wrote in a Facebook post.

In northeast Florida, coastal areas face an excessive heat warning and could experience heat index values up to 114 degrees Thursday, according to the NWS in Jacksonville. Further inland, an excessive heat watch is in place with heat index values up to 112 degrees expected.

Meanwhile, all of southwest and west central Florida is under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, the NWS Tampa Bay office said. Heat index values up to 112 degrees are expected.

The heat index “represents what it feels like outside,” Austen Flannery, a meteorologist with NWS Tampa Bay, said in a video shared on the agency’s Facebook page. “It’s taking into account the dew point, so the humidity aspect of things and the air temperature itself.”

Usually during this time of year, high pressure over the Florida peninsula causes easterly winds, which is the opposite of what the state is currently experiencing.

“It’s not anything like that. The typical high pressure that’s over us has been pushed much further to the east,” Flannery said. “We’ve seen a lot more westerly wind that’s kept us a lot more warm and muggy in the mornings and through, really, the entire day, and it’s really limited the rain chances across the area.”

He added, “Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of relief on the radar, so to speak. There’s just not a lot of chance in that.”

The meteorologist also warned Florida residents and visitors to take the same precautions whether they’re under an excessive heat warning or watch.

“Don’t get too caught up in the details. It really honestly does not matter,” he said. “It’s hot it. It does not matter. The impacts are going to be the same either way. It’s hot. Stay hydrated. Try to stay out of the sun if you can.”