Record heat to continue through Tuesday

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Record high temperatures will continue through Tuesday after records fell this weekend. The record high on Saturday was broken when the mercury hit 94 breaking the old mark of 93 set back in 1960.

On Sunday the record high of 94 set back in 1936 was broken as well when the official temperature hit 95. The record high of 95 on Monday and 94 on Tuesday will likely be in jeopardy.

Temperatures will begin to moderate by the end the week, and with the chance of thundershowers entering the forecast look for highs in the upper 80's by next weekend.

High temperatures were at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Fayetteville and Wilmington in North Carolina; Savannah and Macon in Georgia; and Gainesville, Florida. It was the third day of temperatures in that range this week.

Savannah's high of 102 degrees was a record for all of May and hotter than any day so far this year in Phoenix, as the same weather pattern bringing the unprecedented heat to the Southeast also has the desert southwest in the U.S. unusually cool. The high in Death Valley, California, on Sunday was 82 degrees, according to the FOX 5 Storm Team.

While unusual for late May, this kind of heat isn't unheard of for the Deep South in the middle of summer. Officials did not report a large number of people sickened by the hot weather, even over the long Memorial Day weekend.

That dry weather has made this May heat wave a little more tolerable than most dead-of-summer heat waves in the Southeast. The humidity has been a bit lower, preventing the oppressive, heat blanket that the Deep South often feels in summer.

The Associated Press contributed to this article

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