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RDU saw its highest temperature (106) and highest heat index (118) ever recorded on Friday afternoon. The new highs illustrate the intensity of the heat as a heat advisory stretches from the Piedmont to the North Carolina coast on Friday. 

WRAL Weather Alert Day: RDU smashes records with high of 106, heat index of 118

<p>I'm meteorologist Kat Campbell. Today is a wr weather alert date due to the threat of significant heat. I know that we've seen a lot of hot days so far this summer, but today is exceptional and this is why an excessive heat warning was issued for the first time this year. A heat index is expected to be near 110 for two or consecutive hours and that's what's needed for a heat advisory to be upgraded to an excessive heat warning in the southern part of our area. There is still a heat advisory in orange including Fayetteville. That's where the heat index should be between one and five and 109. The excessive heat warning in pink including all of the triangle is the more severe of the two. And you can see why these are the actual temperatures today, not the heat index 102 in Raleigh 101. Durham Goldsboro, Fayetteville, Southern Pines, even 99 in Roxboro. Just a 30% storm chance this evening. We average only 1 to 2 of these excessive heat warnings a year in central North Carolina. The heat advisory is 8 to 9 per year for that average. So, let's talk about the weekend. We're at 97 degrees for the high Saturday 80 on Sunday, it won't be quite as hot but still very humid this weekend. And better storm chances for the weekend as a cold front approaches, it's not going to bring any kind of significant cool down for us, but it will bring more storms by two o'clock. We've got a good amount of storms popping up Saturday afternoon and those become more widespread as we get near and past dinner time on Saturday. It's a pretty good chance of storms for us. This model is the most dramatic of the storm, but all models are showing pretty good thunderstorm coverage Sunday with outfront kind of washing out and dissipating over central North Carolina. We should see some additional scattered storms develop. Another important note. Yesterday, there were more than 70 rip current rescues at the North Carolina Coast and unfortunately, a couple of folks went missing, please, please please review your rip current safety with your family. If you're headed to the beach this weekend, the rip current threat high today for much of the North Carolina coast. And my recommendation is that if the red flags are flying and there's a high rip current risk you really shouldn't be getting in the waters. The lifeguards have had a busy week already. 102 for the high today, we're at 97 Saturday, our high temperatures back off a little bit Sunday into early next week with highs back in the low to mid nineties and we keep it a chance for some scattered storms each afternoon.</p>

Hottest day ever at RDU 

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