‘Oppressive heat’ to blast Upstate NY starting this weekend

Syacuse, N.Y. — The season’s first heat wave is expected to start Sunday in Upstate New York.

Temperatures could reach into the 90s Sunday through Wednesday, with humidity high enough to make it feel like 100 degrees or more.

“There is high confidence for oppressive heat early next week,“ the National Weather Service said. ”Now is the time to plan for a consecutive string of hot days and little relief at night.”

Nighttime lows likely won’t drop below the mid 70s early next week.

A stretch of weather this hot by mid-June is highly unusual. Syracuse has three consecutive days of 92 or greater in early to mid June just three times in the past 122 years of record keeping. The most recent was last year, when it was that hot from June 17 to 20.

Today through Saturday the high temperatures are expected to be in the upper 70s or low 80s, with chances of thunderstorms in the afternoons.

A strong heat dome is expected to push into the Ohio Valley on Saturday and move into Upstate New York on Sunday and Monday. A heat dome is a persistent mass of high pressure that brings high temperatures and keeps potentially cooling rain storms at bay.

The oppressive heat is expected to last in Upstate New York until next Wednesday before high temperatures drop back into the low 80s.