If you've been outside the past few days, you've instantly felt the sweltering late summer heat in East Tennessee. The good news is the extreme heat will break soon.
For the past five days, high temperatures in Knoxville have consistently been above 95 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. A break from temperatures over 90 will come through the weekend as rain and storms pass through the area and help lower nighttime temperatures to the high sixties.
However, high temperatures for the next week will still be in the high eighties.
When will Knoxville get relief from heat?
"Very hot conditions can be expected," according to the NWS, specifically around Knoxville and Chattanooga over the next few days. Rain and storms on over the next few days are expected to help curb some
of the heat.
Chances of downpours and thunderstorms are predicted beginning on Aug. 20 and continuing through Aug. 21 again on the 23. The lowest temperature expected over the next few days is 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the night of Aug. 23, although the average will still be on the higher side, predicted to be 87 degrees.
Knoxville 7-day forecast
Aug. 20: Showers and a likely chance of thunderstorms with a high of 89 and a low of 72 at night.
Aug. 21: A chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high of 88 and a low of 69 during the night.
Aug. 22: Mostly sunny with a high of 89 and a nighttime low of 67.
Aug. 23: Mostly sunny with a high of 89 and partly cloudy with a low of 65 during the night.
Aug. 24: It will me mostly sunny with a high of 88 and a low of 66.
Aug. 25: Chance of showers and a thunderstorms but mostly sunny with a high of 90 and a low of 66 during the night.
Aug. 26: Cloudy with a chance of showers with a high of 87 and a low of 69 during the night.
August heat history
While 90 degrees is tough to deal with and Knoxvillians might be eager to ger right back into air conditioning as soon as they step outside, there have been hotter Augusts in the city's history.
The record high for August was 102 degrees Fahrenheit in 2007, according to the NWS. The scorchingly high heat also hit a record of 102 in 1948. Other extremely high temperature recorded in August include 101 degrees Fahrenheit in 1988, 1983, 1943, 1935 and 1930.
The lowest recorded August temperature since the NWS began recording data is 49 degrees Fahrenheit in 1946. Although the lowest recorded temperature was 80 years ago, 2025 also saw abnormally low August temperature, with a low of 53 degrees.
Afton Pratt covers trending news for The Knoxville News Sentinel and Tennessee. She can be reached at ampratt@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville heat wave to ease as storms roll in. Here's what to expect
