JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Heat advisory for Wednesday as the heat continues to build.
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Fourth of July not much better
Red, White, Boom is the name of our Fourth of July coverage here on Channel 4, the "boom" of course represents the city's firework show that we will air starting at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
The "boom" could also represent the tying (possibly breaking) the old record high for Jacksonville.
The old Fourth of July record high temperature for Jacksonville, occurred in 1970 when our afternoon high reached 99°. The current forecast for Thursday is for a high temperature of 98°.
That would tie it for the 2nd hottest Fourth of July for Jacksonville.
| Year | High |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 99° |
| 1997 | 98° |
| 1982 | 98° |
| 2002 | 98° |
| 2016 | 97° |
| 1969 | 97° |
| 2017 | 96° |
Thursday's Forecast
The 4th of July will be hot this year and mostly dry. We will wake up in the mid to upper 70s under partly cloudy skies. Expect a rapid morning warm up, through the 70s and 80s and into the low 90s by the noon hour.
Winds will be light, out of the south between 5-10 mph. Expect isolated chances for showers to fire up during the afternoon hours, you have 30% chances to see the storms. The storms that do form will be sluggishly meandering to the north-northwest. The best chance to see the storms will be over inland counties, the chances for showers in our coastal counties drops down to the 20% range.
The afternoon temperatures will be sweltering, topping out at 97°, with heat index, or feels like temperatures closer to 110°.
More steamy Fourth of July thoughts.
Hotter days tended to be drier days.
This implies that this Thursday should be drier than normal for this time of year. Out of the 147 years that records have been kept on Jacksonville's weather 51% (half of all Fourth of July's) have had measurable rainfall. But, when we look back at the top 20 hottest days only 20% had rainfall (4 out of 20.)
Two of the past three years (July Fourth's) have been much above normal, if the forecast holds true for this Fourth of July (expected high of 98°) then 3 out of 4 would have seen near record heat.
Last year's high was only 88° and we did receive some rain (storms) around Duval County. It was the fifth coolest July Fourth in Jacksonville since 2000.