Maryland weather: Baltimore heat index could reach 110 Friday
An excessive heat wave is expected to continue in the Baltimore area through Saturday.
The National Weather Service forecasts a high temperature of 100 degrees for Baltimore City Friday with a heat index, a calculation of both temperature and humidity, as high as 110 degrees.
Temperatures reached 99 degrees Thursday at the Inner Harbor.
What you need to know:
The Baltimore City Health Department has issued a Code Red extreme heat alert. View a list of cooling centers here.
Gov. Wes Moore is advising Marylanders to take precautions as extreme heat conditions move into Maryland.
The NWS issued an excessive heat warning for Friday as heat index levels are projected to reach 109 degrees in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas. The advisory will last from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
A Code Orange air quality alert was issued Friday for the Baltimore metro region as high temperatures and sunny skies increase ozone pollution.
Baltimore City pools will have extended hours through Saturday.
Horse races scheduled for Friday at Laurel Park have been postponed to Aug. 3.
The Penn Line Train 440 on the MARC train has been canceled Wednesday through Friday.
How hot will it get?
The NWS projects heat index values of 105 to 110 degrees each afternoon Thursday through Saturday.
The heat index measures how hot the weather feels to a person’s body, combining the air temperature with humidity levels, said Luis Rosa, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington.
Accuweather meteorologist Nicole Lobiondo said heat waves from the Southwestern and South Central regions of the country that are moving over to the Southeast regions “set the stage here for a Northeast heat wave to get underway.”
“The definition of a heat wave, especially in the Baltimore area, is three days consecutively, at or above 90 degrees,” Lobiondo said.
As heat waves persist in the South and across the country, multiple heat records were broken this summer. July 3 and 4 broke the record for the hottest days on the planet, according to University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer estimates.
Air quality
The Maryland Department of the Environment issued a Code Orange air quality alert Friday. The alert means air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups, including young children, older adults and people with heart or lung diseases.
High temperatures, along with diffuse smoke and plentiful sun, will support ozone formation where precursor emissions are heaviest, chiefly along I-95 and downwind of Baltimore, MDE said.
Pool hours extended
Baltimore City Recreation and Parks is extending its neighborhood pool schedule due to the weather.
All park pools remained open until 8 p.m. Thursday, rather than 7 p.m. The pools will be open for regular weekend operating hours Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with an hour cleanup from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
From Thursday to Saturday, all neighborhood pools will be open until 7:30 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m.
Laurel Park races rescheduled
The entire nine-race program originally scheduled for Friday at Laurel Park has been postponed to Aug. 3 due to the heat, according to a news release from the Maryland Jockey Club.
Laurel will remain open Friday for simulcast races.
MARC train service impacted by heat
The Maryland Department of Transportation canceled one MARC train route from Wednesday to Friday due to the heat. The Penn Line Train 440, which departs from Union Station at 5:35 p.m. was canceled “in order to provide contingencies in the event of an equipment failure in severe heat,” the MDT said.
Additional stops will be added at Seabrook, Bowie State University and BWI Marshall Airport to accommodate passengers.
Taking precautions against the heat
Gov. Wes Moore advises Marylanders to take necessary precautions for the heat this week.
“The health and safety of Marylanders is our top priority. Take preventative measures to deal effectively with this week’s high temperatures and look out for those in your community during these extremely hot summer days,” Moore said in a news release Wednesday.
As the temperatures rise, it is important to stay hydrated and take health precautions against the heat. Maryland recorded its first heat-related death of the year earlier this month.
Infants, young children, youth athletes, people over the age of 65 and those with health conditions are at the highest risk for heat illnesses, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s Office of Preparedness and Response. Heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstrokes are the most common heat illnesses during the summer.
The Office of Preparedness and Response recommends that people stay indoors as much as possible, wear light clothing, drink plenty of water, and avoid leaving infants, pets, children or older adults in parked cars during the heat.
“We remind Marylanders to take precautions to avoid any heat-related illnesses during this extreme heat episode and throughout the rest of the summer,” Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Maryland Department of Health Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services, said in the news release.
Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Belson contributed to this article.
