“As we enter Day 3 of this dangerous heat wave, the potential for heat-related illness will only increase, especially for vulnerable populations.” the Weather Service wrote in St. Louis early Tuesday.
Hundreds of additional record highs and record lows are expected through the weekend. Significant heat at night intensifies heat hazards.
“Take the heat seriously and avoid prolonged time outdoors,” he wrote the Weather Forecast Center. The conditions can be “potentially fatal to anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration.”
By Thursday, record highs are expected to cover the Midwest into the Ohio Valley and the South. By the weekend, record heat will head toward the Gulf Coast and return to the desert southwest.
This burst of heat fills high humidity. Another day with heat indices as high as 130 or so is possible, with Monday's high. In Lawrence, Kan., the heat index rose to 134 afternoon, following similar conditions on Sunday. Ottawa, Kan., also felt a heat index of 130 degrees on Monday, in addition to a number of locations that topped 120.
It's not just the obscene heat index values that stress these areas. Tuesday's high temperatures are likely in the 100s across most of the Plains except in the north, extending into Minnesota, Iowa and south across the South. That footprint will expand Wednesday, with 100-degree temperatures moving east to threaten the Chicago metro area and elsewhere.
Some of the forecast highs for Tuesday and Wednesday:
- Baton Rouge: 101 and 105 degrees
- Dallas: 104 and 104 degrees
- Des Moines: 98 and 101 degrees
- Jackson, Miss.: 103 and 105 degrees
- Minneapolis: 100 and 99 degrees
- Topeka, Kan.: 103 and 104 degrees
In and around Chicago, an extreme heat warning began Tuesday. High temperatures on Tuesday and Thursday are forecast to reach the upper 90s with around 100 there, with a heat index of 110 or higher. The combination of heat and humidity may rise to “excessively rare” values for the region, according the local Meteorological Service office.
Many of these areas will experience this heat through at least Thursday (northern) and Friday (central).
“An Extreme Heat Warning is currently in place until Thursday, although there is growing confidence that additional heat titles are needed for Friday.” the Weather Service wrote in Springfield, Mo.
Several additional records were set Monday, from the Front Range of the Rockies through the Central Plains and south into Texas and then east into Louisiana and Mississippi.
Cities with record highs Monday include Wichita and Abilene, Texas, at 106, Corpus Christi, Texas, at 100, Lake Charles, La., at 102 and Denver, which reached 99 degrees. Many locations also reached daily records, or near, for warm lows. In San Antonio, it only dropped to 82 Monday night, while St. Louis dropped to 81 and Denver to 72.
Salina in north-central Kansas saw five days at or above 100 degrees Monday, including 113 on Saturday. Several more heavy days are likely to come and the streak will end up in the top-10 longest on record there.
Many locations have suffered more than a dozen record highs this month alone. Del Rio, Texas has recorded 17 of them, Austin has 16, New Orleans has 15 and Brownsville, Texas has 12. Likewise, warm record lows have been widespread this month. Del Rio has recorded 19. Baton Rouge, 15; Houston, 13; and Orlando, 12.
So far in August, more than 1,600 record highs have been set at long-period weather stations across the United States. Last week, the average per day is close to 100.
Among the many records yet to be set, more highs are possible for any day of each month, especially at northern gulf coast area of Louisiana, Mississippi and surrounding areas.
And while it's true that higher temperatures scorched the plains during the Dust Bowl (1930-1939), land mismanagement and deep drought then added to the low-level heat. When you compare the strength of the high pressure area to the upper level, the current one is ringing as in August 1936.
The heat is still gripping much of the northern hemisphere
Europe also continues to bake.
Francesca southern half it is either in code orange or code red for heat. As in the United States, significant warmth has persisted overnight. The low of 30.1 degrees Celsius (86.2 degrees Fahrenheit) was just the warmest on record for France, according to the weather history Thierry Gus.
Numerous records – including some all-time highs – have been recorded in Spain and France in recent days. In Switzerland, a weather balloon measured temperatures above freezing at about three miles high, perhaps the highest recorded in this country.
Other areas of sweltering heat persist Japan and mainland Asia, as they have been doing for months.
Back in the United States: While the record temperatures are retreating northward, they will likely continue around New Orleans and move up the West late into the weekend into next week. More extreme heat looks likely to create markets from the West and western Canada in early September, before possibly moving back east.
For many, fall can't come soon enough.
