Weather Forecast for Independence Day Calls for Heat

It's America's birthday but will the weather cooperate for all of the traditional festivities? Here is a look at the current forecast for the Fourth of July.

Temperatures on the Upswing for the Holiday

Mother Nature is cranking up the thermostat just in time for the long holiday weekend. It will be challenging to find cool pockets of air across the country on Independence Day. Temperatures will hover about 5 to 10 degrees over the historical average on Thursday for a large portion of the Gulf Coast, the southern Atlantic, and the central and southern Plains.

For instance, Dallas is going to swelter with temperatures that are expected to crack the century mark under sunny skies. The norm for this date hovers in the mid 90s on the holiday in the metroplex. Partly cloudy skies and the chance of thunderstorms will work to push the mercury down to about the 80-degree in the overnight hours and into Friday.

It will be a similar story to the southeast in Atlanta. The Peach City is expecting highs to bounce around in the mid 90s. When paired with the high humidity levels, the real feel readings will easily climb over 100 degrees during the peak afternoon heating hours. The historical average for Independence Day in Atlanta is about 90 degrees.

While these readings will certainly be toasty, it will be the interior West dealing with the most extreme heat on the holiday. The interior portions of California, southern Nevada, and western portions of Arizona will experience the brunt of the heat with potential record-breaking temperatures in store as millions of Americans gather outside. The mercury is forecast to trend about 10 to 20 degrees above average in this region.