Heat wave looms for Triangle and central NC with rising temperatures
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Temperatures will reach the low 90s Sunday, May 17 through Wednesday, May 20.
- Temperatures are forecasted to stay at or above the 80s all of next week.
- Drought improved around Charlotte, while Triangle counties saw no drought status change.
Enjoy the last few days of mild and breezy temperatures. It’s about to get hot.
Temperatures will rise to the low-90s starting this weekend and moving into next week, when temperatures usually remain in the low 80s.
Triangle television meteorologists, including ABC11 and CBS17, are forecasting temperatures to reach the low 90s beginning on Sunday, May 17, through Wednesday, May 20. Temperatures aren’t forecasted to fall below the 80s all next week.
The Triangle and central North Carolina will have a moderate heat risk Sunday through Tuesday, affecting those most sensitive to the heat, according to the National Weather Service.
“Even though it is not as worse as it would be in July or June, people need to just take precautions,” said Andrew Kren, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Raleigh Office.
One positive is this heat wave won’t have August’s signature sticky sweet glaze of humidity and mugginess.
Triangle’s heat risk
These heat waves can be less intense for many compared to the hot bouts of summer ahead. But that doesn’t mean they’re without risk.
Two brief heat waves in April netted one out of three of the state’s heat-related emergency room visits, according to state data share during the Thursday, May 14, media briefing from the National Weather Service’s Raleigh’s Office.
Nearly 500 heat-related illness visits to emergency rooms were recorded statewide in the state.
“Although this heat next week is not going to be particularly dangerous, the early season heat certainly results in a large impact for the public,” Kren said.
Recent rain and the NC drought
Most of North Carolina saw some soaking rain last week, with the drought improvements largely in the Charlotte area around the southern Piedmont.
“That had been the driest part of the state, especially out toward Monroe, and those areas that have been in the ‘exceptional’ drought,” said Corey Davis, Assistant State Climatologist at the North Carolina State Climate Office. “Those areas that have been in the exceptional drought. So for that corner of the state, it was a really beneficial rain event.”
Some of those areas of the state are no longer in “exceptional“ drought, the worst category, and others moved from “extreme” to “severe” drought.
But that rain wasn’t widespread. Some parts of the Triangle saw an inch, which is average for this time of year in May, he said. Counties in the Triangle did not see changes in its drought status, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“It’s nice that we’re finally in a little bit wetter pattern after how dry we were in April, but we’ve only had really two or three semi significant rain events so far in May,” Davis said. “So that’s not enough to make too much of a difference just yet.”
Rain isn’t in the near future except for a small chance of showers in middle to late next week, Kren said during the National Weather Service’s latest briefing.
