The June 28 Smithfield Farmers Market has been canceled due to excessive heat.

“Unfortunately, due to the heat index … our market will be cancelled especially with us operating on the asphalt. We don’t take these decisions lightly and think about our vendors and customers safety and wellbeing when making these kinds of decisions,” Smithfield’s and Isle of Wight County’s shared tourism department, which oversees the weekly farmers market, announced on social media Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 93 degrees in Smithfield and a heat index as high as 102 degrees. The heat index, also called the apparent or “feels like” temperature, measures the impact of heat combined with high humidity on the human body. 

According to the NWS website, when the body gets too hot, it reacts by sweating. If the perspiration isn’t able to evaporate due to the air already being saturated with high humidity, the body can’t regulate its temperature and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke set in quicker.

Earlier this week, Smithfield saw upper-90-degree temperatures as a heat dome, which forms when a high-pressure system traps hot air, hovered over Hampton Roads.

While “that ridge of high pressure is still going to be near the region” it “lost a lot of its strength” June 23-24, National Weather Service Meteorologist Ryan Rogers told the Times.

On Friday, a “backdoor cold front” dropped temperatures and canceled heat advisories in Hampton Roads. The heat index is expected to rise again this weekend, but will be more in keeping with typical summer weather.

“The extreme portion of last week’s temperatures that’s over now,” Rogers said.

A 40% chance of rain after 2 p.m. may bring some relief on Sunday, June 29, which is forecast to see a high of 94 degrees. Beyond that, the heat is expected to stick around with another high of 94 degrees Monday and Tuesday, and another 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon after 2 p.m.