By James Steinbauer, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – A potentially dangerous heat wave is expected to bring high temperatures and humidity to Columbus and the rest of Ohio this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for central Ohio from 10:00 a.m. Friday until 8:00 p.m. Saturday.
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Some of the warmest weather this summer will hit, with today’s expected high of 89 giving way to the 90s by Friday. The high that day is forecast to be 92 degrees with a heat index —the combined effect of heat and humidity — near 100. Sunday, though, is expected to be the hottest day, with temperatures in the mid-90s and a heat index well above 100.
City of Columbus community centers are open during regular hours as cooling stations.
Alex Butner, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wilmington, said the intense heat and humidity are neither unique nor unusual for July.
“I would say this is typical summertime weather,” he said. “This is the hottest time of the year anyway and our maximum temperature would be around the time we are at right now.”
Butner said the heatwave stems from a high-pressure system that’s sitting over much of the U.S. heartland like an open oven, letting stifling air spill throughout the country. The system is already over such states as Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota, where temperatures reached well over 100 degrees on Wednesday and the agency issued an excessive-heat warning.
The Ohio Department of Health says the elderly, infants and children, and people with chronic medical conditions need to take extra care in avoiding heat-related stress. The agency is encouraging people to drink water and stay cool.
Health officials say in 2015, nine people died in Ohio because of extreme heat.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such heat kills more people than tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes or floods.