With a sudden flash of lightning and crack of thunder Tuesday evening, the skies opened and Concord got a break from its record heat wave.

The Concord area’s summer heat peaked at 94 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday, tying July 8 for the hottest day of the month so far. Tuesday was also the 11th consecutive day that the temperature in the area has surpassed 90 degrees, which set a new record. The previous streak had been nine days of heat in the 90s set in August 2002. Wednesday, that record broke again as the streak extended to 12 days — the temperature hit 92 degrees just before 4 p.m.

Tuesday’s high heat disturbed the atmosphere and fueled the evening’s thunderstorms. About three-quarters of an inch of water fell in a short burst, but no flooding was reported in the Concord region, according to the National Weather Service. Trees were knocked down from high winds in a number of towns, including Mason, Hudson, Lyme, Keene and Milford, according to officials at the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The storm cleared by Wednesday morning, though, as the heat took back over the city.

This particular heat stretch comes to Concord from a high-pressure ridge off the East Coast, according to Stephen Baron, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. The ridge is a heat dome created by an area of high pressure, and it blocks the cool air that New Hampshire usually receives from Canada.

Thursday, however, that heat is expected to dissipate, thanks to a cold front coming to the coast. Though temperatures will remain in the mid- to upper 80s, the cold front will decrease humidity with a dew point in the low 60s to make the hot air far more manageable. Baron says the National Weather  Service expects  the cold front to last “well into next week.”