Few will find the “Goldilocks Zone” where the weather is just right this Fourth of July holiday, as depending on location, most across the US looking to get outside and celebrate will find it either too wet or too hot.
Most of the nation will be dealing with weather that’s either too wet or too hot over the Independence Day holiday weekend.
Western forecast: The West, Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, and portions of the Southwest will be hot. Wet conditions for western and southeastern Wyoming. Rain for most of Colorado.
Southwest: Wet for central and southern Arizona, while hot for the northern regions. Rain for nearly all of New Mexico.
Central US: Rain for the entirety of Texas. Dry for of Oklahoma and Kansas. Very warm conditions for Nebraska, the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan.
Ohio Valley & mid-Atlantic: Dry with the exception of southern Virginia.
South & Southeast: Rainy throughout.
Northeast: Rain for portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Western Maine. Dry elsewhere.
The Pacific Northwest has been shattering high-temperature records, reaching peaks even hotter than LA, Dallas or Miami have ever been, NBC reported. The forecast through the July 4 weekend and into the holiday itself is calling for continued hot and even extreme temperatures.
Washington and Oregon will continue to see triple-digit temperatures, with temperatures running at least 20 degrees above normal in some locations, CNN reported.
As many as 230 heat-related deaths
The Northwest has already seen hundreds of people visiting emergency rooms and urgent care clinics, while as many as 230 deaths have been reported in the Pacific Northwest since last Friday, CNN reported.
The current predictions by the National Weather Service (NWS) for Friday, July 2, show thunderstorms sweeping in a semicircle stretching from the Pacific Northwest, down into the Southwest, stretching over the south-central US in Oklahoma and Texas, spanning across the deep South in Florida, and following the southeastern coastline over the southeast, mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The only dry areas on Friday in the forecast are portions of the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley. However, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia will see thunderstorms.
The good news is, while there was an NWS warning of expansive areas of severe weather and flooding risk for Wednesday and Thursday, there are no severe weather or flooding threats anticipated for Friday as yet.
Officials are reminding everyone that extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that during extreme heat people should limit outdoor activity, and at-risk people should stay inside air conditioning buildings as much as possible. For more information on heat precautions, visit the CDC website.
Also, be sure to protect your skin from sun exposure by using sunscreen. And if you want to protect your skin from aging and long-term damage, try to find a sunscreen that also includes a dry skin moisturizer.