RALEIGH, N.C. (NCN News) – The hottest Independence Day on record is possible Saturday in central North Carolina as a streak of 100° temperatures arrives Thursday and doesn’t leave until early next week. In the eastern part of the state it is much the same. National Weather Service meteorologist Nick Petro is in Raleigh and told WPTF News that we’re in a heat dome.
“What happens in high pressure situations is that the air is thick and any time the air is thick, it compresses and gets warm. Any time you compress anything, you’re actually warming it.”
Petro continued, “Each consecutive day this week, with the heat peaking at basically the Independence Day weekend, that’s going to put a lot of folks at risk, especially people who are sensitive to heat, somebody who doesn’t have AC, or people who have to work in the daytime – those are the folks who are going to be at risk.”
The temperature this Fourth of July will be close to record-breaking. The prediction right now is at 102 degrees, and the record is 106 degrees in Raleigh.