Maryland heat wave peaks, severe storms & flood risk Thursday
We are entering day six of our current wave and despite the end being in sight, we're going to have to tough out the most challenging day of heat and humidity. High temperatures will climb into the middle to upper 90s. Combine the heat with tropical levels of humidity, and it's a potentially dangerous cocktail of weather, if you're not taking the adequate steps, to keep your body cool and hydrated. This is a WJZ First Alert Weather Day for extreme heat and humidity.
Air Quality Alerts are in effect Wednesday for the following counties in Maryland: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Harford, Cecil, and central and eastern Howard. Ground level ozone will reach unhealthy levels leading to code orange air quality. The sick, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups should limit time outside due to the unhealthy air and extreme temperatures.
A Heat Advisory is also in effect for most of Maryland Wednesday, including the following counties: Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Harford, and Cecil counties. The combination of scorching temperatures and soupy humidity will lead to dangerously hot conditions with feels like temperatures quickly spiking between 100° to 108° from late morning through the dinner hour.
The Orioles home game early Wednesday afternoon will be stifling hot. First pitch against the Blue Jays will take place at 12:35 p.m.. Temperatures throughout the game will be in the middle 90s with the heat index in the seats ranging from 105° to 110°. Please wear adequate sun protection including sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses, and drink plenty of water.
A few isolated afternoon and evening strong thunderstorms are possible this afternoon, but they should remain sparse in coverage. More places than not will stay dry and scorching hot today.
Thursday will feature the last day of hot and steamy air across Maryland. If the heat wave doesn't end Wednesday it will come to an end Thursday after the storms pass through the area.
The hottest temperatures Thursday will be felt during the morning and midday hours. The heat index will reach between 95° to 105° by late morning through early afternoon. Please stay hydrated and dress in light weight, light colored clothing. We'll see partly sunny skies, hazy, and tropical conditions through lunchtime.
Scattered to numerous strong to severe thunderstorms will develop as early as lunchtime Thursday and continue through 9 p.m. There will likely be a few clusters of strong to severe storms from early afternoon through early evening. The greatest risk from these storms will be copious amounts of cloud to ground lightning, strong to locally damaging winds, and blinding downpours.
Storms will be capable of producing 1 to 2 inches of rain in just a half hour! So flash flooding, downed trees and tree limbs, and travel disruptions are possible during the afternoon and evening commute time period. Stay with the WJZ First Alert Weather Team for updates on any flood and/or severe weather watches and warnings Thursday.
Clouds, scattered showers, and high humidity levels will be around Friday morning. While the humidity will still be running at very high levels, the clouds and showers will put an end to the heat. By Friday afternoon, showers should continue to taper off with some late day breaks in the clouds possible. High temperatures Friday will only top out in the middle to upper 70s.
The first weekend of the new month of August looks to bring a welcome break from the heat and humidity. Overnight lows will drop into the 50s and 60s. Expect sunny skies both Saturday and Sunday. Afternoon highs will be extremely pleasant, topping out in the upper 70s to low 80s. Humidity levels will fall to some of the lowest levels of the entire summer so far!
The weather looks spectacular from the mountains of western Maryland to the beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. Go ahead and make your outdoor plans now!
Looking ahead, warmer and more humid conditions are likely to return early next week. A few showers are possible for Eastern Shore communities Monday afternoon, with better rain chances and a more summer-like feel returning statewide by Wednesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Massive wildfire becomes California's largest blaze of the year
Rising temperatures are posing new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California which has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew slightly overnight after burning out of control for days. The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment. It surpassed the 126 square mile Madre Fire, which erupted last month in south-eastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025. Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures around 35C on Wednesday and above 38C on Thursday, said Captain Scott Safechuck with Santa Barbara County Fire Department. 'We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,' he said. 'So we expect extreme fire behaviour.' Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he added. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heatwave intensifies. The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it 'ripe to burn', the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement. Temperatures around 38C are forecast for the Sacramento Valley. More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted on Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forests, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries. The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of south-west California. Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was treated in hospital for burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames, and two contract employees assisting firefighters were hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned.
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Massive central California wildfire keeps growing and becomes state's largest blaze of the year
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — Rising temperatures on Wednesday posed new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that has injured four people as it has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew only slightly overnight after burning out of control for days. The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles (339 square kilometers) of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment. It surpassed the 126-square mile (326-square-kilometer) Madre Fire, which erupted last month in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025. Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures in the mid-90s (35 Celsius) on Wednesday and above 100 (38 Celsius) on Thursday, said Capt. Scott Safechuck with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. 'We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,' Safechuck said Wednesday. 'So we expect extreme fire behavior.' Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he said. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heat wave intensifies. The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it 'ripe to burn,' the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement. Triple-digit temperatures (around 38 Celsius) are forecast for the Sacramento Valley. More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forestland, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries. The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of southwest California. Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was hospitalized with burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames. And two contract employees assisting firefighters were also hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned.
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
Maps show where record heat will hit the Southwest this week
Record temperatures are expected in the Southwest U.S. as a heat dome of high pressure is targeting the region Wednesday and through the rest of the week. Temperatures as high as 120 degrees or higher are expected, amid numerous anticipated record highs and warm lows. Extreme heat warnings cover most of the southern half of Arizona and continue into southeastern California. Areas including Phoenix, Tucson, Palm Springs and the Grand Canyon are all under this highest level of heat alert. In some of these places, temperatures won't fall below 90 degrees at night, increasing the risk of severe heat effects on people there. Heat advisories will stretch west toward the Los Angeles region, stopping just shy of the coastal zone, where some marine influence helps cool the air. Other cities, such as Denver, Albuquerque and El Paso, are under heat advisory on Wednesday and typically through Thursday. Suburbs around Phoenix, such as Tempe and Sierra Vista, are forecast to suffer Level 4 out of 4 heat risk — where illness is common among the general population and services are impacted — both Wednesday and Thursday. Cities including Phoenix, Denver, Albuquerque, and Amarillo, Texas, are among those forecast to experience Level 3 out of 4 risk, which also brings an increased threat of heat illness. The worst of the heat is expected over the next day or two in many spots. Any relief thereafter is slow — and any extreme heat is also expected to exacerbate conditions for ongoing wildfires across the western U.S. The heat dome is particularly strong — often characterized by 'heights' at 500 millibars (about 18,000 feet above the ground), this event is pushing 600 decameters on Wednesday, or the top of the scale on the image below. Only the most intense heat domes during the peak of summer approach or surpass this level. Such intensity is more typical in the western or central U.S. compared to further east. While the heat dome may peak through Thursday, impacts of the highest temperatures will persist into the weekend. In Phoenix, the high this year so far is 118 degrees, reached on July 9. Forecasts for Wednesday and Thursday are right around 117, which would both be records for the dates. Other locations may also test high temperatures of the year, like Denver. The high there this summer is 100 degrees, also reached in early July. The forecast the next two days in the area is upper 90s to around the century mark. Highs at or above 100 degrees are forecast for much of Southern California east of the Los Angeles area mountains, then into a big chunk of Arizona, most of lower-elevation southern New Mexico and then out into the plains of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. These temperatures are about 10 degrees above average in many locations, and as high as 15 degrees or more above average in parts of the high Plains. The overall hottest temperature of the year in the Lower 48 — 124 in Death Valley — may also be threatened in this stretch. That's most likely to occur on Wednesday or Thursday. The highest forecast temperature in California is currently 125 degrees on Thursday around the Salton Sea to the southeast of Palm Springs. For the Southwest, it's late in the season to be seeing the highest temperatures of the year, should they happen. By August, the monsoon — a seasonal shift in winds bringing moisture and thunderstorms to the region — increases humidity relative to earlier in the season and produces more cloud cover. Even without copious rainfall, that combination tends to stifle temperature rises compared to earlier in the summer. But the 2025 monsoon is rather meager to date in much of the Western U.S., with zero to 50 percent of normal precipitation common alongside growing drought. A handful of areas, such as portions of central Arizona and then especially eastward toward eastern New Mexico, have seen above-average precipitation. Drought conditions enhance heat potential, which then further dries the land in a feedback loop that can be difficult to break until the cool season arrives or even beyond. The mix of high temperatures and drought is also fueling a number of large fires in the region, while making them more difficult to fight. The National Interagency Fire Center raised the national preparedness level to 4 out of 5 on Tuesday, largely in response to the worsening threat in the West. Large blazes have now burned more than 1 million acres in the U.S., including an ongoing 125,000-plus acre conflagration near the Grand Canyon, where temperatures could be around 110 degrees the next few days. Red flag warnings for fire weather concerns cover much of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, plus portions of surrounding states, on the north end of the heat dome where winds will be stronger than further south. Temperatures should moderate somewhat by the weekend as the heat dome relaxes after reaching peak strength. While readings are expected to remain near or above normal in the Southwest into next week, by later next week, odds favor temperatures returning closer to typical, which is still of course rather hot
