Monongalia County Schools released two hours early Friday in anticipation of temperatures in the 90s.
However, the expected high was brought down a few degrees to about 85, by a passing mezzo-scale vortex, said Shannon Hefferan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
A mezzo-scale vortex is almost like a mini hurricane with circular wind motion visible on the radar and lots of rain, Hefferan explained.
“It’s a very summertime thing that can happen,” she said.
Saturday it’s expected the temperature will hit 90 with a 15%-20% chance of rain after temps in the 60s overnight, Hefferan said.
If it does reach 90 degrees on Saturday, it will be for the first time in Morgantown in 2022, Hefferan said.
Typically, 90 is a temperature expected more in June and July and the NWS is asking people to practice heat safety and stay hydrated, Hefferan said. While unusual, it wouldn’t be a record for May 21, which is 92 in 1934.
Safety is what caused Mon County Schools to release students two hours early, Superintendent Eddie Campbell said.
“We don’t have air-conditioned buses. And so, at the primetime when the projected highest heat indexes would be when we were transporting our kids home on Friday evening, Friday afternoon,” he said. “There was discussion that we might see heat indexes hitting 100, 101. And without having air conditioning on those buses, that was a great concern for us.”
Weighing a couple hours of instruction time at the end of the year versus the safety of the kids, it made sense to let them go early, Campbell said.
Rainfall should return Sunday afternoon with warm temps in the 80s, according to Hefferan. Probably after dark there could be a line of showers and thunderstorms from the northwest.
“And then temperatures will actually be kind of cool. After that cold front moves through Sunday night and early Monday morning; probably drop down into the 50s actually,” she said.
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