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A huge heat wave, which set dozens of temperature records from Texas to California, swells in the eastern United States. More than 100 million Americans from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes are worried about heat in the middle of the week as temperatures rise to triple digits.
Suppressive humidity levels will make it feel 5 to 15 degrees hotter, producing heat index values of 100 to 115 degrees in much of the central and eastern Lower 48.
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Heat or overheat warnings and warnings cover all of Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, and parts of more than a dozen other states.
The National Weather Service predicts temperatures could break records in more than 100 cities by Wednesday, from Denver to Charleston, South Carolina
The longest and most intense heat is expected in the middle of the country.
Relentless heat is forecast in St. Louis, where mercury is expected to hit at least 100 each of these days – with heat index values up to 113. He is under warning of excessive heat for “dangerously hot conditions”, according to the meteorological service.
The hot air at the same time feeds the risk of strong thunderstorms on the northern periphery of the heat wave. The Meteorological Service is closely monitoring the potential for the development of a violent complex of storms that could move from the Upper Midwest to the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic on Monday afternoon to early Tuesday.
Forecasts for next week call for a criminal heatwave to continue over the central states. Heat waves like this are typical basic products for summer, but their impact is amplified and prolonged due to man-made climate change.
Where is the heat now, where is it headed and how long can it last
Excessive heat is the result of an intense and diffuse zone of high pressure, sometimes called a heat dome.
The dome, centered over the southwest on Saturday, has shifted to the east. On Monday, it hovered over the lower Mississippi Valley, putting much of the eastern half of the country, except the northeast, in sight. It will move to Nashville by Wednesday before flowing west again.
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More than 100 degrees are forecast for most of Texas on Monday, with more than 90 degrees from the Corn Belt all the way east to Carolina. Record-breaking highs of close to 100 are forecast in Denver, Dallas, Omaha, Memphis and Charlotte, among many others.
Temperatures from the 1990s to nearly 100 could reach as far north as Minneapolis on Tuesday, with 98 in Atlanta, 97 in Chicago and 101 degrees in Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, reaching an incredible 102 degrees.
The combination of heat and humidity in Charlotte on Tuesday and Wednesday – producing heat index values close to 110 – may be the most intense there since 2010.
On Wednesday, temperatures above the 1990s will be ubiquitous from the central plains and Texas across the eastern Great Lakes, the Midwest and the inner Mid-Atlantic and Appalachians, as well as the southeast. Records could threaten the area from approximately Flint, Michigan, through Columbus, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee, to Atlanta.
The heat will not go anywhere soon. It may shift slightly to the west and consolidate over the central states at the end of this weekend. The Centers for Climate Forecasting of the Meteorological Service predicts continued temperatures in the central states over the next two weeks.
Along the northern periphery of the heat dome, where hot heat meets cooler air, the resulting temperature contrast is expected to cause strong thunderstorms. The storms were already evident at noon on Monday in the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes.
Concerns are growing that an arc echo or curved waveline capable of producing damaging rectilinear winds will be organized and spread south and east on Monday afternoon and night through the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley. The Meteorological Service’s Storm Forecasting Center has put the Wisconsin-North West Virginia area at greatest risk from this possible thunderstorm complex or mesoscale convection system (MCS).
“It appears that the long-term sloping MCS could cause significant wind damage along this corridor,” wrote the Storm Forecast Center, which also warned that heavy hail and several tornadoes were possible. Cities in the high-risk corridor include Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
There is an external chance that MCS will meet the criteria for a derecho, which is a fast-moving, extensive, long-lasting and violent complex of thunderstorms.
Derecho Season: Why you should be aware of these potentially devastating wind storms
It is unclear whether the storm complex will survive its trip over the Appalachians Monday night and what the consequences will be for Washington and Baltimore, but it is worth watching the area late into the night until early Tuesday morning.
Another such complex could then develop over the Upper Midwest or the Great Lakes and move inland northeast late Wednesday through Thursday.
As the heat spread to the area from Texas to the Central Valley of California at the end of last weekend, she set a series of records.
Phoenix set three consecutive daily records for high temperatures – 113 degrees on Friday, 114 on Saturday and 112 on Sunday. The average temperature there at this time of year is about 105 degrees.
On Friday, the morning minimum temperature in Phoenix did not fall below 87 degrees, which means that, taking into account the afternoon maximum temperature of 113, the average daily temperature was 100 degrees. This is the earliest three-digit average daily temperature recorded in Phoenix.
Las Vegas reached 109 on Friday and Saturday, leveling or breaking records, and Salt Lake City reached 102 on Saturday and 103 on Sunday. They also broke records.
Denver rose to 100 on Saturday, a draw for his earliest case of a record touching the age limit.
In Texas, hot days and hot nights set dozens of records. Dallas recorded a morning minimum temperature of 80 degrees on Sunday, a record warm minimum temperature. Elevated temperatures at night often play an even bigger role than high ones during the day in increasing heat stress on the body and contributing to heat-related diseases and deaths among vulnerable populations. Dallas then reached a record 103 degrees on Sunday afternoon.
Abilene, Texas, saw three consecutive daily records – 102 degrees on Friday, 108 on Saturday and 109 on Sunday. San Antonio also equaled or broke records these days at 101, 104 and 105 degrees, respectively, as did Austin, at 101 on Thursday, 103 on Friday, 104 on Saturday and 105 on Sunday.
In Houston and Galveston, Texas, the heat overlaps with suppressive humidity, which contributes to heat indices ranging from 105 to 110 degrees.
It could be worse, though – Southeast Oklahoma saw heat index values in the incredible range of 120 degrees on Saturday. They are due to air temperatures around 105, combined with dew points, a measure of humidity, in the upper 70’s to about 80.
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