Heat to get more intense into the weekend, record highs possible

Our break from the dangerous heat is about to end. Highs return to the 100s by Thursday afternoon.

"The heat will get more intense into Friday and Saturday as moisture increases, then more storms arrive to close out the weekend," Meteorologist Grant Skinner says. Skinner said Friday and Saturday will be the hottest days and that's why we now have Weather Alert Days.

There's a Code Orange Air Quality Alert for Wake, Durham, Granville and Franklin counties due to stagnant air and ground-level ozone levels. Smoke from the Canada wildfires play a small role as of now with most of the smoke in the upper-levels of the atmosphere. 

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• Thursday: Dry but hotter. Highs climb into the upper 90s-100.
• Friday (WRAL Weather Alert Day): Highs at around 100°. More humid with some brief showers possible.
• Saturday ( WRAL Weather Alert Day): A chance of isolated showers and storms. Highs in the upper 90s.

An upper-level ridge will build over the area for the next few days. This will bring very hot temperatures to the region with heat advisories likely into Friday and Saturday.

Highs today will reach into the upper 90s-100. High pressure will bring quiet conditions to the area. Ahead of our next front, humidity will build into Friday, and we’ll have a small chance for some brief showers. This humidity will make it feel even hotter.

Friday and Saturday are WRAL Weather Alert Days. 

We’re even more humid on Saturday, so heat index values will climb even more into the triple digits despite the air temperature being close to the same. We’ll see a better chance for scattered storms by Sunday and through the first half of next week. Highs will trend closer to average in the low-mid 90s.

Parts of the Triangle and eastern North Carolina have received more needed rain over the past week, which has helped ease the drought a little more.

New drought data released on Thursday, July 16, shows the state's exceptional drought is down from 6% to 5%, and the extreme drought is down from 50% to 39%.

WRAL meteorologists have said it could take a tropical system to get rid of our drought status.

It would take more than 15 inches of rain to catch up on the deficit, and much of central North Carolina is likely to remain in a drought through September.

• Thursday: Partly cloudy and hot. Highs near 100 degrees.
• Friday: Partly cloudy and hot. Isolated late-day storms. Highs near 100.
• Saturday: Partly cloudy and hot. Scattered storms return. Highs will reach the mid to upper 90s.
• Sunday: Another hot day with scattered storms. Highs in the low to mid 90s.
• Monday: Scattered storms with highs in the mid 90s.
• Tuesday: Scattered storms with highs in the mid 90s.
• Wednesday: Scattered storms with highs in the low to mid 90s.