Short cool front expected

Remember the commercial from several years ago that featured a Southern belle complaining about the weather and she wails, “It’s not the heat, Daddy, it’s the humility!”

She may have mangled a couple of words but the idea was right. It’s not just the heat, but also the humidity, experts contend, that is making us so miserable right now.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Hovis, of the Charleston, W.Va., office, said temperatures are actually only in the low 90s right now, hardly record-setting.But when the humidity is factored in, the heat index — the combined effect of the heat and the humidity— ratchets up that icky feeling when you venture outside.

The NWS issued an excessive heat warning from noon until 8 p.m. Thursday. Hovis said an excessive heat warning is issued when the heat index reaches or surpasses 105 degrees for at least two hours.

“That’s when it really gets dangerous,” Hovis said.

A heat advisory, one step lower than a warning, is issued when the heat index is at least 100 degrees but less than 105 degrees for at least two hours.

At 1:51 p.m. Thursday, the temperature at Tri-State Airport was 91 degrees with humidity at 68 percent, hence a heat index of 107 degrees.

While this summer may not be hotter in terms of temperature, this year, as a whole, is wetter than normal.

Hovis said the Tri-State has seen 11 more inches of precipitation that we usually get, most of it coming in the late winter and spring.

Hovis said a cold front will pass through the area Monday and lower temperatures slightly but the cooling trend will be brief. Expect a return to the heat and humidity by the middle of next week.