Fishel: Have a contingency plan for outdoor activities July 4th

Although most of the Triangle saw unseasonably cool temperatures in the 70s on Sunday, the heat is expected to return Monday, bringing a greater risk for storms to end the three day weekend.

The chance for rain remains low during the early morning hours and will only climb to 34 percent by 2 p.m. During the time period between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., the risk for rain jumps up to nearly 60 percent, Fishel said, and remains just over 50 percent until 8 p.m., when it begins to decrease.

“There probably will be locally heavy rain and thunderstorms in the during the mid to late afternoon into the early evening and if we can somehow get past that, than the period from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. looks like it’ll be considerably quieter,” Fishel said.

Fishel said that some could still escape the wet weather, but people planning to spend the Fourth of July outside should have a backup plan.

“If it were me, I’d just go on ahead and pretend everything’s going to be fine and have a contingency plan,” he said.

Temperatures will skyrocket for the rest of the week, with highs in the upper 90s and Fishel said the chance exists for some days to exceed the 100 degree mark.

“It looks like we’re going to be headed into an old fashioned North Carolina heatwave here,” he said.