Record-breaking heat expected Wednesday, Thursday in Raleigh, Sandhills

Record-breaking heat is descending on Raleigh and its surrounding areas Wednesday and will last through Thursday.

A giant dome of high pressure over the entire southeastern part of the U.S. will continue to throw those warm temperatures at North Carolina residents.

September just wrapped up as the 3rd warmest at RDU on record. Last year was second with an average temp just .10 degrees warmer. The warmest September ever happened in 2010.

SEE ALSO: Record-breaking heat hits Raleigh and Fayetteville, shatters September records

The hottest temperature ever recorded at RDU on October 2 happened in 1986. That temperature was 91 degrees.

The high temperature at RDU so far Wednesday is 96 degrees, breaking the previous record of 91 degrees and two degrees shy of the all-time October record of 98 degrees in 1954.

ABC11 Meteorologist Don "Big Weather" Schwenneker expected records to be broken this week. He expects we'll reach 97 degrees Thursday.

Those highs are more typical of something we'd see in July, not the first week of October--and the heat index is even worse.

The story is the same in the Sandhills.

In 1986, Fayetteville saw its highest temperatures ever on October 2-3: 93 degrees and 95 degrees respectively.

Those records are also likely to be broken.

The average high in Fayetteville is 79. Our morning temps will be closer to that than our afternoon highs. And factor in the humidity tomorrow and the heat index will top out over 100 in spots in the Sandhills. It was also the 3rd warmest September in Fayetteville.

The good news about all of this is the temps will be back into the 70s by Saturday and the rain chances return next week.