TEMPERATURES TOP 100-DEGREE MARK, BUT RELIEF IN SIGHT

Hot enough for you?

Exiting an air-conditioned building may feel like walking into a blast furnace. The topic of many conversations this week has been the hot, humid weather. Although weather experts said this is normal for this time of year, there may be some relief in sight.

Other than a few slow moving thunderstorms in Carter and Ripley counties, area weather has been humid and very hot, with no precipitation. The temperature climbed to 100 degrees in the Cape Girardeau area Saturday, with a heat index of 115 degrees.

Dr. Al Robertson, a climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University, said feeling hot and sweaty at this time of year is normal.

"We are in the dog days of summer," he said. "It is typical."

Robertson said what is not typical is the fact that Southeast Missouri had three months of lower than normal temperatures.

He said high pressure cells and dormant air becomes stagnant causes the hot humid weather to linger on.

April, May, and June recorded temperatures that varied from 5 to 6 degrees below long term average temperatures. In fact, July temperatures have been more than 2 degrees below the average for this time of year.

Robertson said people may feel like weather is abnormal because they are not acclimated to it.

"We are acclimated to air-conditioning," he said. "We hit a hot spell and we think it is too hot."

There may be relief on the way.

Meteorologist Dan Ferry of the National Weather service in St. Louis, said the heat will continue into Monday until late in the day.

"A northern front from Canada will bring cooler air and a chance of thunderstorms by Tuesday," he said.

Showers may linger throughout Tuesday with highs around 90 degrees.

Ferry said Wednesday and Thursday temperatures should drop with highs in the 80s and lows in the 70s.

The stagnant humid air that the region has been should experiencing should decrease with the northern front.

Ferry said people should remember that heat is typical for this time of year.

"A period of heat is typical for summer," he said. "Until this past week, the region has had unusually cool temperatures."