Extreme heat warnings extend from Texas and Louisiana to Wisconsin and Minnesota, including the entire states of Iowa and Missouri. Cities under extreme heat warnings include Des Moines, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas and Little Rock. The heat and humidity combinations will lead to temperatures that feel like 110 to 120 degrees across much of the Midwest and South, with some spots even surpassing those marks.
That was already the case on Sunday, with heat indices in many locations exceeding 120, centered on Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.
More than 200 long-season record highs were set since Friday alone, including an all-time high of 112 points in College Station, Texas. all time high arrived in Alexandria, La., where he reached 110 on Saturday. August record they were placed in Abilene, Texas at 111 and Stephenville, Texas at 110.
“The prolonged nature of the heatwave combined with very warm overnight temperatures will limit relief from oppressive daytime heat and the overall effects of the heat.” he wrote it National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center early Monday.
Indeed, several hundred more record highs and perhaps twice as many record-warm lows are forecast by Friday, including the possibility of more monthly or all-time highs. In the Midwest, warmer temperatures are expected to shift somewhat eastward in the coming days, bringing record or near-record temperatures to Minneapolis, Chicago, Memphis and Indianapolis, among other cities.
Heat indices topped 120 degrees in more than a dozen locations in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa on Sunday. In Lawrence, Kan., the heat index has arrived 134 degrees, from a temperature of 102 degrees and a dew point of 84 degrees. ONE location in Iowa also recorded the same heat index, but his observations appeared to be corrupted.
“These conditions are untenable even for short periods of time,” the Weather Service wrote in Kansas City on Sunday.
Trying to put the current heat into perspective, the Weather Service office pointed out a Heat wave in mid-July 1995 which killed hundreds in Chicago alone.
“Cancel or reschedule activities or move them indoors. This is life-threatening heat and all precautions must be taken,” he wrote.
The breathtaking temperatures are due to a high-pressure heat dome with little precedent for endurance. On Sunday afternoon, a weather balloon released from Topeka in northeast Kansas recorded one of the highest known high pressure readings in the US.
“Never have measurements recorded a warmer troposphere over the central US,” wrote the NASA atmospheric scientist Ryan Stauffer.
Lots more coming this week
To start the week on Monday, record highs are expected to be threatened from Nebraska, Texas and the South.
Denver is projected to reach 99, which would surpass a record of 97 for the date. Other cities expected to break records include Wichita and Dallas, with highs of 106, as well as Shreveport, La., at 105 and Jackson, Miss., at 104.
On Tuesday, the potential heat record extends, moving to Minneapolis, with a forecast of 99. Chicago, where temperatures are expected to reach 98; and St. Louis, where the forecast is 102. Another record-breaking high is expected from Texas and eastward, where the heat seems endless. Austin is up 44 days in a row at or above 100, a streak that may hold until September.
Similar widespread extreme heat is expected on Wednesday. Records are likely in an area centered in Iowa and again in the South. New Orleans will climb back up to near and over 100, as will Tallahassee.
Thursday may have the largest footprint of a record high, from the lower Great Lakes southward to the mid-South and then the Gulf Coast and Texas. Chicago should spend its third day near 100, with Detroit doing the upper 90s, Louisville similar, and then a bunch of records in jeopardy again from Texas in the South.
Amid the flurry of record low temperatures, many cities won't drop below 80 overnight.
By Friday and Saturday, a cold front pushes the record heat farther south and east. The mid-90s in Washington, D.C., could threaten a record Friday, with dozens more at risk south and west of there.
Heading into the weekend, the main focus is back on the Gulf Coast, where New Orleans could be near 100 by Sunday. The city has already seen 12 days over 100, breaking the previous annual record of five days set in 1980.
If you've been following the heat of the summer, you probably know the deal. Rather than diminishing entirely, a shift of the heat dome toward the southwestern United States seems a good bet for the last few days of August. It may then extend eastward again in September.
A noticeable cooldown for the end of the month is a good bet in the Northeast, where several days could end up with below-average temperatures. Most other areas of the country remain above to well above average.
Any break in a place like Texas — where the heat has been anchored for months — seems pretty short-lived, if at all. Temperatures there are expected to remain 5 to 10 degrees above normal most of the time through the first week of September.
