Central Indiana is headed into its fifth straight day with temperatures at 90 degrees or higher on Friday, and the region is not done with the heat yet. Afternoon highs are expected to reach the lower 90s, with feels-like temperatures climbing to 100 to 105 degrees.
That makes Friday another tough day for anyone watching weather near me before the holiday weekend. The Extreme Heat Warning remains in place through 8 p.m. Friday, then shifts to a Heat Advisory through tomorrow at 9 PM, keeping the focus on heat as Independence Day plans begin.
The heat has already been punishing. On Thursday, heat indices pushed well above 100 degrees in some local spots, including 121 degrees in Spencer and 120 degrees in Marion. July is typically the hottest month of the year in central Indiana, but this is still the first significant heat wave of the summer, and it is arriving with numbers that leave little room for comfort.
Most of Friday is expected to stay dry, which offers a short window for outdoor plans before the weather turns less settled. A few isolated showers or thunderstorms could develop late Friday as the ridge of high pressure slowly weakens, but the bigger shift comes on Saturday, when scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop during the afternoon and evening.
Some of those storms could become strong, bringing damaging wind gusts, torrential downpours and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning. That is the part holiday weekend planners need to watch most closely, because Saturday evening is when fireworks displays are most likely to overlap with rising storm chances across central Indiana.
Additional scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected Sunday as moisture continues to increase across the Ohio Valley, with highs topping out in the upper 80s to around 90 degrees. Daily chances for scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue into next week, while temperatures gradually settle into the lower to middle 80s and humidity stays elevated. The heat is peaking now, but the more unsettled stretch is still ahead.
