Hello everyone, Jared Smith here with your Charleston weather forecast for Thursday, July 20th, 2023.

Yep, it’s still going to be hot on Thursday, and with a little more moisture in the air, we should see heat indices climb back once again towards 110 degrees in the afternoon, particularly near the coast.

As of this recording on Wednesday evening, no heat advisory was put into effect, though I wouldn’t be surprised if one came out by Thursday morning.

Advisory or not, heat illness will be a real concern in the afternoon, so be sure to get plenty of water, wear light and loose-fitting clothing, and take frequent breaks in the shade if you must be outdoors.

Attention will then turn to thunderstorm potential as we head later into Thursday afternoon and into the evening hours as a disturbance moves by to our north.

This could instigate some thunderstorms once again, and a few of those could be on the strong side, with gusty winds and hail as the main severe weather concerns.

Most storms will also be efficient rainfall producers and should be capable of plenty of lightning as well, and lightning makes every thunderstorm dangerous, severe or not.

Bottom line, be ready for the potential for some evening commute disruptions.

Fortunately we’ll be rid of much of the wildfire smoke that had noticeable impacts on our air quality on Wednesday as it continues to move away from the area.

There may be some haze left over aloft, but smoke should not be an appreciable factor at the surface, so hopefully we’re all breathing a little easier on Thursday.

Taking a peek ahead at Friday and the weekend, we’ve got one more very hot day coming up.

Highs on Friday should top out in the upper 90s, and with dewpoints running in the mid-70s we should see heat index values peaking around 110 degrees in the afternoon in many spots, especially closer to the coast, so it wouldn’t shock me to see a heat advisory issued for Friday.

A few afternoon thunderstorms are possible, but right now it looks like they’re going to be a little bit more scattered in nature, so not everyone will get relief from the heat.

From there as we get into the weekend, the ridge will retreat further west as a trough of low pressure strengthens to our north, and this is going to turn the weather a little bit more unsettled heading into the weekend, with thunderstorm chances each afternoon, but it’ll also act to start bringing temperatures down a few notches.

We’re still going to be in the mid-90s on Saturday with heat indices around 105, but highs should only top out around 90 on Sunday, given thunderstorms being a little bit more likely on Sunday afternoon and evening.

And that was Charleston Weather Daily for July 20th, 2023.

I’m Jared Smith.

You can find Charleston weather forecasts online at chswx.com, on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at chswx, and on Mastodon at chswx at chswx.social.

Thanks for listening! I’ll talk to you tomorrow.