Heat Wave Peaks Tuesday as RHMZ Forecasts 39 Degrees
Tuesday brings up to 39 degrees, with RHMZ putting the odds at 70 percent that the mercury tops 38 somewhere in Serbia. Relief arrives Wednesday and lasts three days. Here's how to get through it.
How hot will Tuesday actually get? Up to 39 degrees, with the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia (RHMZ) putting the odds at 70 percent that the day’s peak temperature will climb past 38. That is the highest figure this heat wave has produced in an official forecast.
Today is a notch lower. On Monday, August 10, morning temperatures range from 16 to 21 degrees, with a daily high of 34 to 37. The warning threshold is 35 degrees and above, with a 90 percent probability. City by city, forecasters expect around 35 degrees in Nis, Kraljevo and Novi Sad, and around 34 in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Uzice. Winds stay weak to moderate, blowing from the north and east.
What Tuesday’s forecast says
For August 11, RHMZ forecasts overnight lows of 15 to 21 degrees and daytime highs of 34 to 39. Wind stays weak to moderate, from the north and northeast. Rain will be scarce and brief: in Vojvodina, a rare short shower is possible in the late afternoon and evening, driven by local cloud development.
Look at how the warning threshold itself moved, not just the number. For Monday the service warns at 35 degrees, for Tuesday at 38. The threshold climbed three degrees even as the probability dropped from 90 to 70 percent.
When relief comes and how long it lasts
On Wednesday, August 12, temperatures drop to 30 to 35 degrees, reaching 36 in southern Serbia, with a warning threshold of 35 degrees for the south and a 70 percent probability. Wind picks up that day, moderate and occasionally strong from the north and northeast, before easing in the evening. Thursday’s high runs 30 to 34 degrees, with the warning threshold down to 32 and the probability at a striking 95 percent.
The dip lasts from Wednesday through Friday, three days in all. By the weekend, highs climb back to 35 degrees and above.
This is the first time in the current heat wave that the forecast has clearly marked an end point. A few days ago we wrote about the heat’s return and how to cope with 38 degrees, when the forecast only showed how high it would climb. Now it shows how far it will fall too, which makes planning easier: shift anything that has to happen outdoors to Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, because after that the cycle starts over.
Why wildfire risk is part of the same forecast
Alongside the temperature warning, RHMZ issues a second one, on wildfire risk. In the warning published on August 10, the service states that Serbia remains in a period marked by:
a very high risk of wildfires starting and spreading outdoors
The reason is a combination of three factors: high temperatures, dried out vegetation, and a long warm stretch without rainfall. The rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday changes nothing here, since it will be brief and localized.
What the weather service recommends
The recommendations are short and specific:
- avoid direct sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
- drink fluids regularly, not only once you feel thirsty
- stay in cooled rooms whenever that is an option
The most vulnerable groups named are children, older adults, people with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and anyone who works or spends long stretches outdoors.
One detail in the forecast is easy to miss, yet it changes the math in the city. Conditions are harsher in densely built areas, where heated asphalt, concrete and facades push the felt temperature even higher. The number you see in the forecast is measured inside a weather shelter, on grass, in the shade. A street intersection at noon runs hotter than that.
If something has to be done outdoors this week, Thursday is the best pick. The warning threshold that day is 32 degrees, the lowest of the week, with highs reaching only 34. Save Tuesday for work in the shade.
