Heat wave expands across the country, flash flooding and wildfire danger continues

Hot weather continues to spread throughout the lower 48 states from Arizona to New York this morning.

Seven states from Kansas down to Louisiana are under a Heat Advisory where temperatures will be in the 90s for the most part, but with humidity it will feel like it’s close to 110 degrees in some areas.

The heat will spread as we head closer to the end of the week with 90 degree and higher temperatures expected from California to New York.

In the East, the big problem will be the high humidity so the 90s could feel more like 100 degrees.

For the Fourth of July on Saturday it looks like the Northeast part of the U.S. from Boston to New York City and Philadelphia could catch a break as a back door cold front could cool this area off.

Elsewhere, four dozen wildfires are still burning in the West from Nebraska to California.

The winds have slightly relaxed in some areas, however, allowing firefighters to make progress on some of the fires.

There are still four states from Nevada to Wyoming with Red Flag Warnings where winds could gust near 35 mph and relative humidity could drop as low as 5%.

In the East, it’s very much the opposite with wet conditions and localized areas of flash flooding.

Meanwhile, 4 to 6 inches of rain fell from the Dakotas down to Illinois and into Maine where flash flooding was reported.

Also, up to 2 inches of rain fell in parts of the Atlanta metro area in a short period of time and produced street flooding.

The result of this heavy rain is the slow moving storm pattern that keeps producing thunderstorms with heavy rain over the same areas.

Today, a Flash Flood Watch has been issued for Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky as this stationary frontal system stays put.

Over the next few days, the stationary front will continue to sit over the South and mid-Mississippi River Valley and will continue to produce localized heavy rain and some areas could see 2 to 4 inches of rain in a short period of time and that could cause flash flooding.