The high at Toledo Express airport hit 96° today — making it the hottest day of the year so far.  The total of 90-degree days for July is now 11, and the total for the year is 15.

Heat and humidity will last through Saturday, so we should add one more 90° day onto the above totals.  Cooler weather will settle in for early next week, but some 90° weather is possible later in the week.

By late next week, we could have July’s count of 90° days breaking 10.  Here’s a comparison on how the past few years turned out. 

Last year, while it was humid, we didn’t have many 90° days.  Quite a contrast to just two years before in 2007.

The heat index is how a combination of temperature and humidity really feels to your body (aka apparent temperature or the “feels like” temperature).

On our main weather page, under the 7-day, you will find current conditions for some cities in the area.  Plotted next to the temperature is the “feels like” heat index temperature.

Here is a link to the National Weather Service’s heat index chart.  You can find the heat index by using temperature and either dew point or relative humidity.  It is better to use dew point, since as the temperature changes, the relative humidity changes a bit over just a few hours.

After we reached dew points in the 70-75 range Thursday, they should drop to near 60 by late Friday, but will return into the low and mid 60s over the weekend.

Highs for mid-week will touch or surpass 90°.  Normal high is 83° for this point of the month.

July has recorded 5 days in the 90s so far.  June had 3 days with 90°+ and May had 1.  The total is currently at 9 days of 90°+.  The year’s hottest temp is 95°, set on July 7th.

Normal High & Low:

July 1       83° / 61°

July 31    83° / 63°

* The normals jump to 84°/63° July 14-25

Records:  105° (1936)  40° (1988)

Normal Rainfall:  2.80″

We lose 43 minutes of daylight during the month.

It will feel more like May or September the next few days.  Highs will be in the mid 70s with overnight lows in the upper 40s/lower 50s.   Normal high the next few days is in the lower 80s, normal low is in the lower 60s.

The record lows the next couple of mornings look pretty safe for most spots.

Record Lows Wednesday AM/Thursday AM:

• Toledo               42/40
• Findlay             44/44
• Norwalk           41/41
• Tiffin                 42/44
• Adrian             41/41
• Defiance         41/43
• Lima                42/47
• Montpelier   41/44
• Napoleon     41/44
• Kenton         40/41
• Wauseon     40/40

The summer solstice occurred this morning at 7:28.  This marks the northern most reaches of the sun’s direct rays as it is positioned over the Tropic of Cancer.

The first day of summer this year is Monday, June 21st. Enjoy the warm and muggy weather!