Severe Thunderstorm Watch in Effect Until 9 PM

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, NJ, has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Cape May County.
There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms into this evening. The main severe threat is damaging winds, but any thunderstorms that develop may produce frequent lightning, small hail, gusty winds and heavy downpours.
Tonight: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and frequent lightning. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South southwest wind between 6 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
AccuWeather.com reports a surge of near 100-degree heat Wednesday into Thursday is poised to broil part of the mid-Atlantic, following a record spring in some locations.
Temperatures are forecast by AccuWeather.com to challenge record highs of 98 degrees in Washington, D.C., Wednesday and Thursday. Some thermometers in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, southern Pennsylvania and interior New Jersey will register 100 degrees. This also includes the cities of Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Richmond.
Extreme heat and humidity have been building in the Deep South in recent weeks. Since this past weekend 90- to 100-degree heat with high humidity pushed into the middle Mississippi and Tennessee valleys.
As disturbances roll by through the Great Lakes, the northern mid-Atlantic and New England, surges of heat just south of these features will send temperatures skyrocketing at times over the southern mid-Atlantic.
The disturbances will bring episodes of violent thunderstorms and downpours. Some locations will be hit with damaging wind gusts, hail, flash flooding and frequent lightning strikes.
Because of the presence of a strong jet stream high in the atmosphere, the storms will not only be fast moving, but the strongest storms can also spawn a tornado.
The near triple-digit heat will follow record warmth during the period from March 20 to June 20 at Washington National and Washington Dulles airports.
Temperatures during this period averaged 66.7 degrees, breaking the old record of 66.3 degrees, set in 1991 at National Airport. Meanwhile at Dulles Airport, temperatures this spring averaged 64.5 degrees, shattering the old record of 63.1 degrees set in 1991.
Meanwhile, at nearby Baltimore-Washington Airport, the temperature this spring averaged 64.0 degrees, which wash only 0.1 of a degree shy of the warmest spring on record during 1991.
Over much of the area from Little Rock, Ark., St. Louis, Mo., and Chicago, Ill., to Portland, Maine, New York City and Richmond, Va., temperatures have averaged 3.0 to 6.0 degrees above normal this spring.
In many cases this spring fell in the top five hottest on record. Most of these records date back 100 years or more.
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Expert Meteorologist