Summer doesn't officially start for two weeks, but tens of millions of people in the U.S. are dealing with excessive heat pushing temperatures into record-breaking, triple-digit range.
A dangerous "heat dome" has settled over multiple states, bringing searing heat to California, much of the Southwest and South Texas.
"High temperatures well up into the 100s [on Wednesday] across the Central Valley of California could soar a couple degrees higher Thursday
afternoon. The Desert Southwest will likely see temperatures soaring into
the 110s Thursday afternoon," the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center said. "The Las Vegas and Phoenix metro areas are likely to top 110F for the first time this year by Thursday-Friday. Las Vegas has a high chance (<70%) of reaching 112F on Thursday, which would become the city's earliest observed 112F on record."
A heat dome occurs when high pressure builds over an area and doesn't move for up to a week or more, according to the USDA. The high-pressure system blocks cooling winds and prevents clouds from forming, which leads to sweltering sunshine and rising temperatures.
Excessive Heat Warnings are currently in effect for California's Central Valley as well as much of the Desert Southwest including southeastern California,
southern Nevada and western/southern Arizona.
"Widespread high and low temperature records may be tied or broken through Friday," the center said. "Record warm low temperatures at night will not offer much chance to cool off either."
And if you think it's getting hot in here, it's not just you. Forecasters say the heat dome should ease a bit on Friday over the Southwest before it expands farther north.
"The hottest temperatures for the West so far this year will build in California and the Desert Southwest through the end of the week. Dangerous heat will then engulf much of the Great Basin and Intermountain west, and may persist into next week," the Weather Prediction Center said, adding that highs are expected to reach well up into the 90s.