Some of the most tropical air the state has ever seen is ongoing this week. Heat indices well over 110°F has been common place across a good chunk of the area. It's not been so much the temperature as it has been the humidity. At the 3 PM hour on Tuesday, July 19, 2011, a new dew point record was established at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport with a reading of 82°F! This breaks the old dew point record set back on July 30, 1999 of 81°F. This kind of humidity is very rare around here. Our dew point is typically 75°F or less. The heat indices should subside by Thursday.
Using my professional-calibrated handheld Kestrel weather unit, I went outside my home shortly after 7 PM, and took a heat index reading of nearly 118°F! Yes, even at that time of the day, it was still quite warm, thanks to a dew point reading around 81°F.
Tomorrow won't have 120°F heat indices, but you'll still want to exercise caution outdoors. Use some common sense and live for another day. Heat is nothing to mess with.
RS
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