Here's the top weather story for Aug. 23
AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno and Ariella Scalese take a look at the top story for Aug. 23.
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00:00 of millions of Americans are sweltering in triple digit temperatures this week.
00:04 Acura, the real field temperatures can soar over 120 degrees in the central US
00:09 during the hottest part of the day. Acura, the meteorologists say temperatures will
00:13 be challenging long-standing records amid the late summer swelter.
00:17 Yeah, let's take you outside right now to Minneapolis. You're in the heat today
00:21 although there is going to be a little bit relief as we go through the rest of
00:25 this week but for now it's all about the heat. Alright, why is it so hot? Let's go
00:30 right to the x-ray of the atmosphere here, the water vapor loop. It's this, this
00:33 intense upper-level high just south of St. Louis. You can see that clockwise
00:37 circulation underneath that high. Because it's so strong you have a lot of
00:42 downward motion and look at all the dry air associated with that upper high. So
00:46 that means sunshine for the most part, no clouds, no rain and that sinking air is
00:52 going to be heating up. Take a look at the advisories, watches and warnings
00:57 today spanning from Houston all the way up toward Minneapolis and Chicago and
01:01 you add it all up, this is a big number. 123 million plus will be impacted by the
01:10 heat today, many of which will be in the central United States. Chicago sunshine
01:15 yesterday, temperatures around 90 degrees. Today we're looking for a high
01:19 temperatures right around 98 degrees. That will be challenging and breaking
01:25 the record of 97 set in 1947. St. Louis 102, Little Rock 100, 104 in Dallas,
01:31 Wichita 102 and Minneapolis U will hit the century mark as well. Again, this is
01:37 the hottest stretch of weather coming today and tomorrow in Chicago that we've
01:42 seen the entire summer. In fact, we've only had temperatures in the lower 90s
01:46 today, 98 degrees. By the way, the all-time record high is 105. Boy, July 1934, you
01:52 want to talk about an unbelievable decade of extreme weather. Go back to the
01:57 1930s with the heat, the cold and that's when we had the Dust Bowl in the Plains.
02:02 Records broken and challenged from Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin,
02:06 Minneapolis. You'll break your record of 97 set back in 1948. We're projecting a
02:11 high temperature of 100 degrees. Now, the other story about heat waves and I think
02:15 this gets forgotten sometime is how warm it stays at night so it never cools down.
02:21 Look at temperatures tonight. That means in Chicago the low 79 temperatures most
02:26 of tonight are going to be in the 80s. A low temperature of 81 in St. Louis,
02:30 Dallas 83 degrees. Again, just be careful with this heat. Now, we'll continue to
02:36 have that record-breaking heat tomorrow across the Midwest but then here comes a
02:42 change. That upper high, that's the heat pump, right? It's going to leave. Watch it
02:46 meander to the south and east. So, we're going to start getting some cooling
02:50 across the northern plains. Now, the heat will continue across Texas right through
02:54 the weekend but for much of the Midwest, you're going to see a significant drop as
02:59 we head toward Friday and Saturday. We go from temperatures in the 90s to the 80s
03:05 and back in to the 70s. You know, Ariella, when you and I were talking about this
03:10 story, I said, "I have so many graphics, there's no way I'm going to get through them all."
03:14 You got through it. I'm on time. He doesn't even have a watch. I'm not sure how he knows that.
03:20 I get to start with some nicer things but there are some changes in the
03:23 northeast as well but you step outside this morning and it feels good.
03:26 Combination of the dry air in place and also some cool temperatures. Dew point
03:31 temperatures, the measure of moisture, the lower levels of the atmosphere, things
03:34 are feeling good with dew points in the 40s and 50s, some very dry August air so
03:39 enjoy the pleasant start to the day in some locations into the northeast. Not
03:44 everywhere because when we look at the last hour or so on our satellite radar
03:47 loop, you've been seeing these showers and storms diving farther south so
03:50 western New York into parts of northwestern Pennsylvania dealing with
03:54 some showers, some wet weather to start the day. Meanwhile, throughout New
03:58 England, throughout New Jersey, down through Delaware and Maryland, things are
04:01 looking nicer as we head throughout the start of our day but we're gonna see
04:05 some more in the way of showers and storms returning later tonight. I think
04:08 this first batch moves out this morning and then as we get through late tonight,
04:11 we'll stop you here around 8-9 o'clock. I do think that's when we'll see some
04:15 more storms returning and those could be on the severe end. When we look at our
04:19 severe storms here throughout our Wednesday night, most of that is going to
04:23 be into western New York and central and western Pennsylvania but with that we
04:27 could see the flooding downpours and storms producing hail. Also some
04:30 localized damaging wind gusts. Winds could be anywhere from 50 to 60 miles
04:34 per hour but the Accu the local storm acts all the way up to 70 miles per hour
04:38 so that risk for some which means severe thunderstorms possible in parts of the
04:42 area. Then as we head into the day Thursday, we'll be watching this warm
04:46 front lift and that's going to kick up the humidity a bit so you will feel a
04:50 difference in the air as we head into the day on Thursday and that's gonna
04:54 spread the chance for showers and thunderstorms a bit farther to the east
04:58 and a little bit farther north so prepare for that here as we head
05:02 throughout the day on Thursday and those storms could also be strong to
05:06 severe kind of similar locations. Again, we're talking about western
05:09 Pennsylvania parts of Maryland and into West Virginia. The hail, the flooding
05:13 downpours and those powerful winds will all be a concern again Thursday into
05:16 Thursday night.