Cincinnati could break 129-year-old heat record Friday. Here's how hot it may get

Fall officially begins this weekend , but don't turn off those air conditioning units just yet.

According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington , mostly sunny, dry and warm conditions will continue Friday. Highs are expected to reach 93 degrees.

So far, it's been an unseasonably warm September in Greater Cincinnati, but how does it measure up to temperatures from preceding years? Will Friday's heat break any climatology records?

Let's take a look.

Could the heat this weekend break any records?

According to climate data from the National Weather Service, the hottest it's ever been on Sept. 20 was in 1895, when it reached 95 degrees. Friday's high is expected to climb to 93 degrees, just two digits shy of reaching the highest recorded temperature in Cincinnati for this date.

Record temperatures for the dates this weekend are:

The hottest September day ever recorded in Cincinnati was in 1953 when it reached a staggering 102 degrees on Sept. 1-2.

What is the heat index?

The heat index is also known as the "apparent temperature," or what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with air temperature, according to the National Weather Service.

The heat index on Friday is expected to reach a high of 91 between 3 and 5 p.m.

What to know about the drought

Areas in Hamilton and Clermont counties are experiencing moderate and severe drought, an updated map from the U.S. Drought Monitor showed Thursday. Severe drought conditions also persist across most of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties in Northern Kentucky.

There is a chance for "wetter than normal" conditions Sept. 24 through Sept. 28, the NWS said in a post on X . Short-term drought relief is looking up for Greater Cincinnati, with rainfall probable in parts of Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky this weekend into early next week.

But, unfortunately, Ohio needs several rainfall events to claw its way out from its dry spell, an NWS meteorologist previously told The Dispatch . The drought will likely persist in Greater Cincinnati for the near future, per the drought monitor's updated three-month outlook.

Grace Tucker and Nathan Hart contributed to this report.