Hot, sticky weather is clinging to Mid-Michigan like a wet shirt on a waterpark patron and the humid mugginess is so thick, one wonders if it wouldn't be better to have gills than lungs.
"We are seeing temps running almost 20 degrees above average," said TV5 Meteorologist Lauren Fahrenkrug. "Strong westerly winds have brought in a very hot air mass from the plains."
As of 4 p.m., Flint has reached 100 degrees, and the Tri-Cities are at 99. Fahrenkrug said our region is very close to breaking record temps. The record in Flint is 101, and the record in Saginaw is 100, both were set back in 1931.
>>Scroll through the photos above to see what other people's thermometers were reading around Mid-Michigan<<
"Heat indicies are well over 100 for most of Mid-Michigan," continued Fahrenkrug. "The only places seeing any sort of comfortable conditions are the tip of the Thumb and far northern coastal communities."
With a cold front passing through this afternoon and evening, cooler air will be filtering in from north to south, providing some relief late in the evening. The front is also bringing the chance for a few spotty showers and thunderstorms. With the amount of heat and moisture in the air, some of the storms could be strong to severe with damaging winds as the primary threat, but large hail is also possible.
Ypsilanti's high reached 104 degrees at 3 p.m. Tuesday, while the temperature hit 100 at Adrian, Ann Arbor, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Flint, Grosse Ile and Monroe.
Relief should follow soon, with a front arriving the next day bringing highs down to the 80s in the southern Lower Peninsula.
Weather service meteorologist Mike Kalembkiewicz in Grand Rapids tells the Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant the area hasn't "experienced the 100s like this since the 1930s."
Copyright 2012 by WNEM (Meredith Corporation) and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Lauren Fahrenkrug
