Good Monday and Happy 4th of July! On this Independence Day, we are getting ready for a massive heat wave set to engulf the bluegrass state this week. To shake things up a little more, strong to severe storm clusters will drop in from the northwest from time to time.

Let’s begin with our 4th and roll forward. The heat begins to build into the region from west to east. Many thermometers today reach 90-95 with temps a touch cooler in the east. There’s the chance for a few scattered showers and thunderstorms to go up and this may interrupt a few parades and fireworks shows. As of now, this does not look widespread.

Here are your radars to follow along…

Our heat wave kicks into high gear on Tuesday as temps make a run toward 100 degrees. This is when we also have to watch that northwestern sky for clusters of strong to severe storms dropping in here. The Storm Prediction Center has much of the region in the severe threat for Tuesday…

This matches up with the map I put together over the weekend for the rest of this week…

Damaging wind is the main threat from these storm clusters that will be around through the end of the week. Thes storms may also put down a lot of rain and the EURO matches up well with my map…

Here’s the animation of the storms…

You can see that on the GFS…

In terms of temperatures, high temps can make a run at 100 degrees on more than one occasion through the end of the week. Of course, showers and storms will have their say as any day featuring storm complexes will come in much cooler. Here’s the high temp take from the GFS…

Heat Index numbers can approach 110 at times, especially in the west.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July! Take care.