Weeks with holidays in the middle are always weird, particularly when that is a single day and it falls on a Wednesday. What the hell are we supposed to do? Our guess is plenty of people will schedule a nice five-day weekend either ahead of or after July 4 this year. But, one thing if for certain, most of us will take off, at the very least, Wednesday.
And because it is the summer, that means lots of outdoor activities. Not to rain on any literal parade, but those plans might be a little soggy this year.
We managed to survive a brutally hot and hazy (thanks to Saharan dust that drifted across the Atlantic) weekend only to find ourselves in the midst of what will probably be the two hottest days of summer so far. Highs Monday and Tuesday are expected to top out in the upper 90s under mostly sunny skies. There should still be some residual haze and likely some ozone warnings, so be cautions when exerting yourself outside.
Then, the holiday. Forecasts have come into better agreement on a decent chance of rain for Wednesday, probably around 60 percent. That means widely scattered showers and thunderstorms for most of the day, but particularly as the afternoon heating commences. Given the heat and relative lack of precipitation over the last couple weeks, it's a welcome sight, but it could put a damper on fireworks displays and rogue firecracker demonstrations around the area.
Thursday should clear out and be a tad cooler than the early part of the week with highs in the lower instead of upper 90s. And Friday brings an increase in rain chances heading into the weekend, but more on that later this week.
As for the tropics, the Atlantic is quiet. In fact, this is the first time in four years we didn't have a named storm in June in the Atlantic. That doesn't really mean anything in terms of long-term forecasting, but we'll take it.