COLUMBIA, S.C. — Some of the hottest weather of the year is on the way this week for the Midlands. If the forecast hold, we will see the hottest weather here in Columbia since we hit 98° on August 20th, 2020
Highs will be approaching the upper 90s towards Thursday and Friday , temperatures that would be considered hot even for Summer months like July and August.
With temperatures that hot, Neil Schmittz, a Lieutenant with the Richland County Emergency Services says staying cool is paramount.
“Loose fitting clothing, light colored clothing and a hat is going to protect you from getting a sunburn… trying to drink plenty of water is always important.”
This extreme heat, is not only expected to be early this year but also follow the trend here in the Midlands; we are getting hotter. On average we see about 8 more days now a year that is at or above 95° than we did back in 1990.
We won’t be alone, the entire Eastern US is expected to be well above average with records being challenged across the country. Highs will be anywhere from 10 to over 15° above average for this time of the year.
With heat like that, things heat stress can become dangerous quickly
“Heat exhaustion, you are going to have some nausea, vomiting, you are going to have cool but moist skin because you are sweating profusely trying to deal with that increased temperature… then of course you have heat stroke which is the worst kind you can have, you’ll see a significant change in your mental status or becoming unresponsive, you’ll also have a dry, hot skin instead of that cool, moist skin and that is kind of the big difference there.”
According to Schmitz the best thing to do is to try to avoid the heat inside whether at home or at a public location such as a library during the hottest hours of the day.