More than 92 million Americans are baking under dangerously high temperatures this week, from California to Arizona to Texas to Florida, as a potentially deadly heat wave builds across the southern and western U.S., threatening to break some all-time temperature records.
A stagnant upper-level high in place over the Southwest and northern Mexico will not only remain in place but begin to build in coverage – particularly to the northwest over the Great Basin and California, the FOX Forecast Center said.
To underscore just how expansive this heat is, the FOX Forecast Center said about 27 million people across the Lower 48 will experience an air temperature or heat index above 110 over the next seven days, based on the current forecast.
In the West, dangerous levels of heat have already been observed in some areas, and the trend will continue.
“Excessive Heat Warnings are stretching all the way up to the I-5 corridor across the Great Basin,” FOX Weather meteorologist Jane Minar said. “This is going to be a really dangerous one. Temperatures well into the triple digits could be the longest run for a place like El Paso (Texas) in a really long time.”
Triple-digit highs will be common across the southern Plains and Desert Southwest on Thursday and Friday, with Midland, Texas, expected to reach 108 degrees on Thursday, an even 100 degrees predicted in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and once again zooming past 110 degrees in Las Vegas and Phoenix.
As hot as this week has been, it will somehow manage to get even hotter over the weekend, rising to the hottest temperatures observed so far this year. Several locations across the West look to make a run to tie or break their all-time record highs while other cities are still adding to historic streaks of hot temperatures.
“We have potential record highs across a big swath of the Southwest, including Arizona, much of the Golden State and even into southern portions of Oregon,” Minar said. “It is going to be really uncomfortable and oppressive, even very dangerous heat. And we are anticipating to continue to see that heat roll on as we go into Sunday into next week as well.”
Las Vegas could break its all-time record high on Sunday as the current forecast calls for 118 degrees. The current record is 117, set several times before.
It’s a strange dichotomy for a city that just last month set a record for the longest stretch between 100-degree days from last fall to this spring.
While the FOX Forecast Center is predicting a high temperature of “only” 126 degrees, a recent forecast from the National Weather Service called for Death Valley, California, to reach 131 degrees Sunday – quite possibly the hottest forecast ever given for a location in the U.S. – and it could challenge one of the hottest temperatures on record, either nationally or globally.
The standing record for the hottest temperature recorded on Earth officially remains 134 degrees in Death Valley set in 1913. There has been controversy over the years to the reliability of the reading, but the hottest modern-day reliable temperature recorded there is 130 degrees, reached twice this decade.
Wednesday marked the 13th consecutive day at 110 degrees or higher this summer in Phoenix – so far, the average high in July is 113 there.
Not only is 110-degree heat forecast for the next seven days, but 115-plus-degree heat is expected.
Phoenix’s 110-degree-day streak record looks to easily fall and be pushed far beyond the current record of 18 consecutive days.
Over in El Paso, Texas, it has been nearly a month of nonstop triple-digit heat. Wednesday made 27 consecutive days with a high temperature at or above 100 degrees, long ago breaking its old record of 23 days set in 1994.
The next seven days show continued heat that will easily surpass 100 degrees by several degrees, pushing the record beyond a month.
Even areas that aren’t pushing all-time record highs are threatening daily high-temperature records both weekend days as temperatures soar well beyond 100 degrees, such as Palm Springs, Fresno and Sacramento in California and Reno in Nevada.
Unfortunately, the long-term outlook for the entire region shows no relief, with a continued heat wave into next week.
There’s no relief from the heat in Florida either, which has also been baking in above-average temperatures for weeks. Only there and unlike the Desert Southwest, high humidity is adding to the woes.
After setting a record high of 97 degrees on Wednesday – with humidity making it feel like 108 – Miami will once again feel the heat on Thursday, along with much of South Florida.
A Heat Advisory remains in effect for South Florida as temperatures soar well into the 90s. Heat indices will again peak around 105 to 110 during the afternoon.
Some brief relief may be on the way as the overall weather pattern shifts slightly heading into the weekend, the FOX Forecast Center said.
There are indications that shower and thunderstorm chances will increase, which will help to provide temporary relief each day from the unusually high humidity and heat.
However, additional Heat Advisories may be issued for the area over the weekend and into early next week as the overall weather pattern remains stagnant and hotter than typical Florida summer heat.