Hot weather is going to stick around

MOSES LAKE — The current heat wave is forecast to last through at least Wednesday or Thursday, with temperatures 95 degree-plus.

Not a heat wave. Just hot weather.

No, really. Not a heat wave. The National Weather Service has an actual definition for a heat wave, and a week or so of hot weather isn’t it. A real, NWS-style heat wave is all about the humidity.

“It’s based on the heat index, or the apparent temperature,” said Mark Turner, meteorologist for the NWS Spokane office. The heat index measures the humidity as well as the actual air temperature to come up with the heat index.

So that old joke about it being a dry heat? That really does make a difference, at least in terms of a heat wave.

So. In north central Washington it’s just hot. And it's going to say hot for a few more days.

That’s the good news. The last couple days are just above-average temperatures for mid-July; the average is 89 degrees.

There is bad news. It hasn’t cooled down much at night, and it’s not going to. Overnight lows will remain at about 60 degrees, Turner said.