Hot, humid through midweek; Heat advisory in effect through Wednesday evening

Drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms and out of the sun, wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing and limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening.

An air quality alert has been issued for today in Butler and Warren counties by the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency. The air quality is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as children, older adults and people with cardiac or pulmonary disease.

To help reduce pollution, residents should limit the use of gasoline-powered vehicles and appliances, avoid using oil-based paints and stains, never burn leaves or yard trimmings and conserve electricity.

There will be more clouds overnight, with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. The overnight lows will be around 74 degrees.

On Wednesday, the chance of rain and storms is expected to drop around sunrise, but return in the afternoon. It will be mostly sunny, with highs around 96 degrees. Dayton could tie or beat the current record high temperature for Aug. 28, which was set in 1953 at 96 degrees.

The heat index value will rise as high as 105 degrees.

On Wednesday night, there will be a chance of showers and thunderstorms until around midnight, with the overnight lows dropping to around 71 degrees.

For Thursday, the NWS predicted similarly hot weather, with highs around 94 degrees and heat index values as high as 101 degrees. There again will be a chance of afternoon rain and storms that is expected to fall away around dark.

Thursday night will be partly cloudy, with lows around 72 degrees.

The heat wave continues Friday with highs around 94. It will be mostly sunny, with clouds increasing overnight. A cold front is expected to move into the region Friday night or Saturday morning, bringing high temperatures back into the low to mid-80s ahead of Labor Day.