98-degree reading breaks mark set in 1911, is highest for 2011

Brooklyn Tolson, 6, at right, and her sister Kaitlyn Toson, 10, battle their cousin, at left, Alex Walker, 9, with a squirt gun at Side Cut Metro park in Maumee.

Not only was Saturday the hottest day of the year, but the sizzling temperature set a new July 2 record for Toledo.

The temperature hit 98 degrees at 3:53 p.m. Saturday at Toledo Express Airport.

The mercury is expected to stop at a more seasonable 84 degrees Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

A cold front was moving through the area late Saturday, bringing with it some rain showers, said Gary Garnet, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland.

"It's going to cool slightly, but it's still going to be in the 80s," he said.

Sunday is expected to be mostly sunny, with a north wind of three to five miles an hour.

Sunday night is expected to be partly cloudy with a low around 64 degrees, followed by a mostly sunny Independence Day with a high near 81 Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

Saturday's 98-degree reading was 15 degrees higher than normal and 17 degrees higher than on the same day last year.

The previous record of 97 degrees for July 2 was set in 1911, according to the National Weather Service.

By 5 p.m. Saturday, meanwhile, the Toledo area had received just a little more than a half inch of rainfall since June 1, which is 3.51 inches below normal.