Hot weekend, 80s Monday and Tuesday--near 100 by Independence Day

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The heat advisory has expired for the Triangle but the dangerous heat remains.

The weekend will be in the 90s before a brief cooling to the 80s on Monday and Tuesday. The temperatures creep to near 100 on the July 4th holiday at 98 degrees!

The increasingly dry weather has pushed much of central North Carolina into a higher on the state's drought monitor. ABC11's Big Weather-Don Schwenneker-says it's the 28th driest June on record.

Broken Record? Not that you want to ever break a record for the hottest day, but that just happened. On Wednesday, June 26 Raleigh officially set a record of 103 degrees!

This breaks the old record of 102 degrees that had stood since 1952.

An extended period of dangerously hot weather will continue.

LOOKING AHEAD

A ridge aloft will build east across the state Saturday but with a fair amount of moisture and instability around in the lower levels, a random air mass thunderstorm or two can still pop up during the afternoon and evening hours. Afternoon highs will be in the low to mid-90s.

A new cold front will be approaching from the west on Sunday and it will raise the potential for more widespread shower and thunderstorm activity. PWs are modeled over 2.0" and any shower or thunderstorm can bring a quick, flooding downpour. While we certainly don't want the flooding, any rain can help bring some relief from the moderate drought now in place across North Carolina.

WATCH | Heat dangerous for pets

The hot weather also caused power outages for nearly 2,000 people on Wednesday evening in the Cary area.

"We understand that having a power outage on a hot day like today is unpleasant and we work to restore power as quickly and safely as we can when interruptions occur," Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy said. "We work hard to deliver reliable power to customers, especially when temperatures are high and energy usage is up."

Power was restored for customers by early Thursday.