The big picture: The heat wave, exacerbated by a long-term drought affected by climate change, shows signs of swelling eventually in the middle of the country and then eastwards until next week. Why it matters: Excessive heat is the deadliest weather hazard in the United States each year, and climate change makes these events more likely, serious, and long-lasting.
The threat to public health from this heat wave is particularly high due to the high minimum temperatures during the night, which in many places break records. For example, at 1 p.m. local time Saturday morning, Phoenix was still at 100 ° F. “Extreme and deadly heat will continue this weekend,” the NWS forecast office in Phoenix said, noting “minimal overnight recovery.” Meteorologists note that Phoenix can see the earliest ever low temperature of 90 ° F overnight.
Note: The city has opened many cooling centers for those who do not have access to air conditioning. With the numbers: Heat warnings cover almost the entire state of Texas and Oklahoma and extend east to Tennessee.
These tips and a more serious warning, known as an overheating warning, also apply to the West Coast, with triple-digit heat burning in Central California. Daily temperature records have already been set since Friday and are likely to fall further on Saturday. Overall, the temperature deviations from the average during this heat wave are about 10 to 20 ° F or more above normal for this time of year.
Friday’s highs included:
109 ° F: Las Vegas. 123 ° F: Death Valley, California, where the hottest temperature in the world was recorded. This was one of the first 123-degree measurements ever recorded in the United States, weather historian Maximiliano Herrera wrote on Twitter. 113 ° F: Phoenix. 103 ° F: Austin. 100 ° F: Albuquerque 98 ° F: Houston
What follows: High temperatures in the southwest are likely to peak on Saturday and Sunday, before the core of the high-pressure area, or heat dome, shifts eastward and parks over the Tennessee River Valley.
The clockwise air circulation around this high will pump hot and humid air to the north. The National Weather Service forecasts high temperatures from Tuesday through the 1990s to Chicago and Minneapolis, with triple-digit heat likely to reach Iowa. Computer model forecasts suggest that heat may not recede for parts of the Central U.S., South and Southeast America until next week, before the heat potentially slips to the West.
Context: The most frequent and intense heat waves are one of the most obvious manifestations of human-induced global warming, according to studies.
In many cases, including last year’s deadly heat wave in the Northwest Pacific, researchers have found that extreme heat waves occur today that would be virtually impossible without man-made global warming.
Go deeper: Heat waves could soon have names
