It’s going to be hot this week, and it’s going to get hotter this weekend. The National Weather Service in Calera forecasted a high of 96 for Wednesday and temperatures near 100 by Saturday.

The heat index this weekend will be between 100 and 105, said NWS Meteorologist Mark Linhares. The heat index is a gauge of how hot it feels, taking into consideration humidity and other factors.

“It looks like the heat will be on — mid-90s Wednesday and 100 by this weekend,” Linhares said.

The temperatures and heat indexes forecasted for the coming week are not quite high enough for the weather service to issue a heat advisory, but they are close. Typically, a heat advisory is issued when the heat index is between 105 and 110 degrees and when lows are at 75 and above. The dew point is also taken into account.

The average low for the next five days is predicted to be about 75.

“We’re not quite to advisory criteria, but it’s still pretty hot out there,” Linhares said. “We’re watching pretty close for this weekend.”

He added that rain chances are very small for the coming week, at about 20 percent for the overall time period. There is a chance of isolated showers Saturday.

Linhares said he expects the hot, mostly dry conditions to continue for a while.

“We expect fairly warm, above normal temperatures into next week,” he said.