Heat index near 100 expected midweek as Detroit opens cooling centers across the city

Metro Detroit is heading into its first real heat of the summer. The National Weather Service has put much of Southeast Michigan under a heat advisory, with the heat index expected to reach the 100s on Wednesday, June 10, and stay dangerously high into Thursday, June 11.

Actual highs land in the upper 80s and lower 90s, but humidity pushes the feels-like figure into the 96 to 102 range on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Thursday brings temperatures near 90 again, with the heat index approaching 100. The forecast does not stay quiet. The Weather Service flagged a strong-to-severe thunderstorm risk Wednesday night, and named damaging winds, large hail, and the chance of a few tornadoes as the main threats for Thursday.

In response, the Detroit Health Department and Parks and Recreation opened cooling centers across the city. Residents can use any of 13 recreation centers during regular hours: Adams Butzel Complex (10500 Lyndon), Butzel Family Center (7737 Kercheval), Clemente (2631 Bagley), Coleman A. Young (2751 Robert Bradby), the Community Center at A.B. Ford (100 Lenox), Crowell (16630 Lahser), Farwell (2781 E. Outer Drive), Helen Moore (11825 Dexter), Heilmann (19601 Crusade), Kemeny (2260 Fort), Lasky (13200 Fenelon), Northwest Activities Center (18100 Meyers), and Williams (8431 Rosa Parks).

Several of those sites, including Adams Butzel, Coleman A. Young, Heilmann, Kemeny, Northwest Activities, and Williams, run weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Detroit Public Library branches serve as respite locations during their normal hours, with the full schedule at detroitpubliclibrary.org/locations. For cooling center questions, the Detroit Health Department line is (313) 876-4000.

The city is advising residents to stay hydrated, limit strenuous activity, and take frequent breaks in air-conditioned spaces. Warning signs of heat illness include dizziness, nausea, headache, confusion, fainting, rapid heartbeat, and unusually heavy sweating. Older adults, young children, and people without air conditioning carry the highest risk, so the Health Department is asking neighbors to check on one another through the worst of it.

The advisory eases as the storm systems clear later in the week. Until then, mornings and evenings are the safer windows for anyone who has to be outside, with the heat building through the afternoon.