CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The week started out with extreme heat warnings in 21 West Virginia counties. The rest of the state’s counties remained under a heat advisory and that’s expected to be the case for the duration of this week. Gabe Wawrin at the Charleston Bureau of the National Weather Service said those temperatures are pretty much everything from the mountains to the Ohio River.
“We have heat headlines, a heat advisory, and an extreme heat warning out for the various lowlands of West Virginia. That runs currently until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, but the heat wave will go through the work week so there might be an extension of that as time goes on,” he explained.
Temperatures each day this week are expected to top out with highs in the mid to upper 90’s. The heat index, or the “feels like” temperatures, will be between 100 and 110 degrees. Those kinds of temperatures can be extremely dangerous if you fail to heed the warnings offered by the weather service to those extreme heat conditions.
“Our bodies will tell us when it is time to go inside or time to slow down or calm down. Sometimes we go beyond that and do what we shouldn’t do and that’s when we get into trouble,” said Shawn Wolford, the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in Berkeley County.
Wawrin said that is why they issue heat advisories and extreme heat warnings.
“The main thing is to try and avoid being outside for extended periods of time in the hottest hours of the day, afternoon and evening hours. If you have to be out make sure you take plenty of breaks and short periods of time outside. Also drink plenty of water,” he explained.
If there is any rainfall at all this week it will be very isolated and probably in the mountains. Officials say the rest of the state can expect to see sunny skies and hot conditions until a cold front starts to make its way into the state on Saturday. This hot week comes on the heels of a pattern of humid days followed by nightly rain showers some of which created heavy downpours and flash flood. The change comes at the perfect time.
“Yeah, it was a much needed dry period. Unfortunately it comes with the heat but it did help areas that have been really wet of late to dry out a little,” said Wawrin.