Heat Advisory In Effect as Temperatures Soar

A heat advisory is in effect for all of Northeast Georgia and the Upstate today until 8pm.

The National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg is calling for unusually hot weather for the next several weeks coupled with high humidity.

According to meteorologist Doug Outlaw, the average temperatures for our area in June are in the mid-80s.

“This time of year the average is about 87 but today we’ll have temperatures close to 100 and on Wednesday the heat index will be about 107,” he said.

The National Weather Service is calling for highs in the upper 90s to low 100s with heat indexes in Northeast Georgia and the Upstate of up to 110 all this week.

Outlaw said the problem is a high-pressure ridge stalled over much of the midwest and south.

“It’s a big upper-level ridge of high pressure that’s covering most of the Southern United States; especially the southeast. The central part of it will over our area Tuesday and Wednesday. then, as we go into Thursday it’s going to break down a little bit as an upper-level trough crosses the Great Lakes. Then a cold front will finally make its way down across our area and start to weaken and drop the temperatures down to about normal by Sunday. So, it will feel much better by Sunday, and then there’s a possibility that the heat is going to return next week,” Outlaw explained.

These high temperatures are expected to continue through much of the rest of June.

But there is some hope each day for afternoon pop-up showers to give some relief but there’s oly about a 30% chance each day.

With the unusually high temperatures comes increased use of our air conditioning to keep cool.

And while power grid blackouts occur in more metro areas during times of high heat and increased power usage, Angie Brown with Hart EMC says they’re prepared.

“We don’t anticipate any grid failure in our area like they have in other areas like California,” she said. “We have plenty of power from all our sources. Our crews have plenty of water on their trucks and they’ll be taking more breaks. It’s just going to be a tough month I think.”

Brown recommends though if you want to save money on your power bill during the high heatwave, you should set the thermostat higher than normal this summer.

“The suggested temperature for your thermostat is 78 and for every degree down you should save 6%-10% on your electric bill,” Brown explained. “But 78 is pretty warm for a lot of people. So, it’s however cool you want to stay will determine how high your electric bill will be.”

Brown said Hart EMC crews have to wear long-sleeve shirts even in the hot weather, which makes this heat even harder for them to work in.