Record heat is expected to settle over the U.S. today from “the Central to Southern Plains into the Lower Mississippi Valley, Lower Ohio Valley, Lower Tennessee Valley and Central Gulf coast...” according to the National Weather Service.
As of 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, multiple regions had temperatures in the triple digits, including southern California, southern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, per Weather Underground. Heat was also expected to build through the interior valleys of California, said the NWS.
“An expanding mid to upper level ridge across the Southern Plains into the Lower Mississippi Valley will continue to drive the record heat wave affecting the southern portion of the nation,” said the service. “The record high temperatures that have been mostly over Texas and far southeast New Mexico over the past week will now be expanding into portions of the Central Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf coastal region over the next few days.”
This will result in numerous record high temperatures in the triple digits, as well as record high minimum temperatures in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Along with these record-breaking temperatures comes an increased risk of life-threatening conditions across a large swath of the country.
“Across these regions, excessive heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect and will likely remain in effect through the remainder of this week,” the NWS said. “The combination of the record high temperatures, along with high surface dew points will produce life threatening heat indices values in the 100 to 120-degree range across these areas.”
Cities that will be particularly impacted, with high heat indices, include Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas, New Orleans, La.; Jackson, Miss.; Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis, Tenn. and Nashville, Tenn.
In Texas, the state’s private power grid already officially broke its all-time record for highest energy demand day Tuesday afternoon, according to the Houston Chronicle. This week, The Verge reported that heat waves could trigger energy shortages across two thirds of North America.
On the West Coast, excessive heat watches are in effect for much of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. There, people can expect to see temperatures in the lower 100s late this week and into the weekend.
At the same time when excessive heat is creating life-threatening conditions in the South and West, the Midwest and East Coast continue to struggle with poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires.
“With no end in sight to the Canadian wildfires and west to northwesterly winds expected to persist from south central Canada into the north central to northeast U.S., poor air quality conditions are likely to continue,” said the NWS.
Tips for dealing with extreme heat are available at ready.gov.
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