The National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday is calling for heat and humidity and a high of 90, and even though an Air Quality Advisory isn’t in effect for Highland County, it will affect neighboring Clermont and Warren counties.
Meteorologist John Franks from the National Weather Service office in Wilmington told The Times-Gazette that it’s all due to the remains of Tropical Depression Cristobal bringing high humidity and rainfall as it spirals up the Mississippi Valley.
“We’re getting the heat and humidity as Cristobal pushes in and west of the region,” he said. “The south winds on the east side of it and into the Ohio Valley are pulling the warm air up from the states to the south of us.”
He said that after Cristobal exits the area, temperatures will settle back into seasonal levels typical for this time of the year with highs in the low 80s, along with most sunny skies and lower humidity.
He said the payoff will be the upcoming weekend.
“The dry air that comes in will be pleasant for most of our area, giving us highs in the low-70s Saturday and low to mid-70s on Sunday, with overnight lows in the low to mid-50s,” he said.
He acknowledged that farmers with newly planted fields could use a little rain along with their homeowner counterparts, and that the leftovers of Cristobal may provide Highland and the surrounding county’s yards and gardens with “a little drink of water.”
“Right now when it comes through on Tuesday afternoon, it looks like it’ll be a shot of a line of storms that will come through later in the day,” he said. “Hillsboro may get some of that moisture, but we’re looking for discreet storms that will form along a line moving to the northeast.”
He estimated that most areas could expect a quarter of an inch or less of rain as the Cristobal-induced storms moved through, but didn’t rule out the possibility of over one-half inch amounts for some areas if strong storms developed during the hot and humid day.
The best chance for any rain, he said, would be on Wednesday when an upper level low rotates through the area that could produce minor rainfall totals in the two-tenths of an inch range or less.
Even though the official NWS forecast calls for a high of 90, WKRC-TV is forecasting a high of 92, which is only four degrees short of the record high of 96 set in 1874 and could be the hottest day so far this year. But Franks didn’t foresee Tuesdays high tying or breaking any records.
“We’re probably in pretty safe territory, but the thing with this record is we’re within the margin of error,” he said. “But I don’t believe the atmosphere is going to support temperatures quite that warm.”
Franks said that even if the temperature didn’t make it to their predicted high of 90, the heat and humidity combined will make it feel like it’s in the mid-90s Tuesday.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
