The official temperature for Baltimore topped 97 degrees sometime between noon and 1 p.m. Saturday. By the 1 p.m. reading it was 99 degrees, breaking the old record of 97 for the date, last reached in 1987.
UPDATE, 3:15 p.m.: The temperature at BWI reached 100 degrees at the 3 p.m. reading Saturday. The dew point is 72 degrees, yielding a Heat Index value of 110 degrees. It is the sixth day of 100-plus temperatures at BWI this year. That has happened in only three other years since record-keeping began in 1871 - in 1900, 1930 and 1988.
UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: The high today at BWI was 101 degrees. It was 102 at the Inner Harbor. Here's more from the NWS:
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN EXCEEDED SATURDAY AT
BWI...DCA...AND IAD [Dulles]. BELOW ARE THE SATURDAYS MAXIMA AND PREVIOUS
RECORDS/ WITH YEAR OF OCCURRENCE/
JULY 24 /RECORD HIGHS/
BWI 101 97 /1987...1968/
DCA 101 96 /1987...1968...1884/
IAD 99 97 /1987/
Earlier post resumes below:
The forecast high for the day at BWI is now 102 degrees. The dew point stands at 72 degrees, putting the Heat Index number at 109 degrees. Downtown, at the Maryland Science Center - and alongside the water - it's "only" 98 degrees. The forecast high is 103 degrees.
It's 100 degrees at The Sun, Calvert and Centre Streets, with a dew point of 80 degrees (It always seems to read high; that would yield a Heat Index of 123 degrees).
And if you haven't been outside yet today, you can't begin to know how really suffocating this heat and humidity really is. I just visited a dry cleaning establishment in Cockeysville, and they are working without air conditioning. Instead, they have all the doors and windows open, with a powerful fan blowing somewhere, drawing a gale of hot air in off the parking lot and through the front door. It's like standing in front of glass furnace.
With four or five more hours of solar heating ahead, we will be setting new records for this date just about every hour at BWI. The all-time record high for Baltimore in July - or any other month - is 107 degrees, set on July 10, 1936.
Obviously, there is an Excessive Heat Warning posted for the region through 10 p.m. Saturday. Heat Advisories, Code Orange Air Quality and (in Baltimore) a Code Red Heat Alert are also on the boards today.
Have you been outside in this stuff? Let's hear about it.
And for more from the NWS on toppling records this weekend, continue reading below.
Just thought this photos would help...
FROM THE NWS, STERLING:
MINIMUM TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING...SATURDAY THE 24TH WERE ABOVE
RECORD VALUES AND ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN WELL ABOVE THESE VALUES
INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS TONIGHT. THEREFORE RECORD EVENT REPORTS
WERE SENT FOR BWI...DCA...AND IAD [DULLES]. BELOW ARE THE MORNING MINIMA AND
PREVIOUS RECORDS /WITH YEAR OF OCCURRENCE/
JULY 24 /RECORD HIGH MINS/
BWI 82 77 /1972...1935...1885/
DCA 81 78 /1987...1978...1935/
IAD 78 74 /1987/
TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO EXCEED 100F ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA
TODAY...SATURDAY JULY 24. RECORD MAXIMA FOR THE 24TH HAPPEN TO BE
THE LOWEST RECORD VALUES IN JULY FOR BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON
DC...AND ARE FORECASTED TO BE EXCEEDED BY SEVERAL DEGREES. A WEAK
COLD FRONT CROSSES THE AREA SUNDAY...THOUGH RECORD MINIMA AND
POSSIBLY MAXIMA MAY BE EXCEEDED SUNDAY AS WELL. BELOW ARE RECORD
TEMPERATURES /AND YEAR OF OCCURRENCE/ FOR THE THREE MAIN CLIMATE
LOCATIONS FOR TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY.
SATURDAY JULY 24 /RECORD HIGHS/
BWI 97 /1987...1968/
DCA 96 /1987...1968...1884/
IAD 97 /1987/
SATURDAY NIGHT JULY 25 /RECORD HIGH MINS/
BWI 77 /1887...1885/
DCA 79 /1987/
IAD 74 /1987/
SUNDAY JULY 25 /RECORD HIGHS/
BWI 99 /1934/
DCA 100 /1930/
IAD 97 /1987/
DCA HAS HAD 40 DAYS WITH 90 DEGREE OR GREATER TEMPERATURES THIS YEAR
THROUGH JULY 23. 40 DAYS TIES THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF 90 DEGREE OR
GREATER DAYS IN A YEAR THROUGH JULY 23 AT WASHINGTON DC WITH 1991
AND 1994. THE RECORD NUMBER OF 90 DEGREE OR GREATER DAYS FOR THE
ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR AT WASHINGTON IS 67 DAYS IN 1980...SO
WASHINGTON SO FAR THIS YEAR IS NEARLY THREE-FIFTHS TO THE YEARLY
RECORD.
BWI HAS HAD 37 DAYS WITH 90 DEGREE OR GREATER TEMPERATURES THIS YEAR
THROUGH JULY 23. 37 DAYS IS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF 90 DEGREE OR
GREATER DAYS IN A YEAR THROUGH JULY 23 AT BALTIMORE...ONE AHEAD OF
36 DAYS OF 90 DEGREE OR GREATER TEMPERATURES IN 1991. THE RECORD
NUMBER OF 90 DEGREE OR GREATER DAYS FOR THE ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR AT
BALTIMORE IS 54 DAYS IN 1988...SO BALTIMORE SO FAR IN 2010 IS JUST
OVER TWO-THIRDS THE WAY TO THE YEARLY RECORD.