Minn. - It wasn't 103 again, it just felt hotter

It wasn't 103 again, it just felt hotter

• Article by: KELLY SMITH , Star Tribune
• Updated: June 30, 2011 - 6:35 PM

Thursday didn't have the highest temperatures this summer, but it felt like the hottest so far thanks to tropical humidity.
The temperature hit 93 at 4 p.m. Coupled with a sticky 73-degree dew point, it spurred the heat index to 108 degrees in the Twin Cities. The air was relatively dry, with dew points in the 40s and 50s, on 103-degree June 7.
For good measure Thursday night, temperatures were expected to remain in the 80s.
What about Friday?
"It's not going to be any better," said Dan Luna, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Chanhassen office. "Is 101 worse than 100? Neither are very pleasant."
Temperatures Friday are expected to stay in the 90s with a heat index continuing to soar above 100 degrees. An excessive heat warning is in effect until 8 p.m. Friday.
Six construction workers in Shakopee were treated at St. Francis Regional Medical Center for heat-related issues, but only one was admitted. Other metro area hospitals reported few patients if any treated for heat illness Thursday. Unlike early June, no roads buckled in the heat.
Could it be stickier than it was Thursday? The metro area has hit 80-degree dew points for a total of 20 hours in history since 1945.
"It doesn't look like we'll come anywhere close to that" on Friday, Assistant State Climatologist Greg Spoden said.
Record sweating rights go to Red Wing, which had a heat index reach a record 125 degrees on July 30, 1999 -- 97-degree temperature and 84-degree dew point.
Those who enjoy, or detest, humidity can look ahead to late July, which often ushers in the summer's highest dew points.
"We still have plenty of sticky days ahead of us," Spoden said.