July will soon make history as the hottest month on record for the planet, partially fueled by relentless heat waves over North America. In the U.S., over half of the nation is still experiencing severe impacts from the ongoing record-breaking temperatures.
The widespread heat will impact 255 million Americans again Friday, with heat alerts touching 35 states as dangerous heat materializes over the Plains and East Coast.
The FOX Forecast Center said 222 daily record highs have been set so far this month, stretching across 76 major reporting cities.
“Now we’re starting to see it expand to the north as well,” FOX Weather meteorologist Craig Herrera said. “What a stretch!”
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Excessive Heat Advisories and Warnings are in effect over the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, lower Great Lakes and much of the Great Plains again Friday.
Within these areas, daytime temperatures are forecast to approach and exceed 95 to 100 degrees heading into this weekend.
Miserable humidity will make these temperatures feel much hotter. Heat index values will approach as high as 110 degrees, especially over the Mid-Atlantic and Central Plains.
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In addition to the hot daytime highs, nighttime lows are also expected to be 10 to 15 degrees above average, with the potential for several warm nighttime low records to be broken. Some areas may not see their heat indices drop below 80 degrees overnight, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Americans that are under heat-related advisories and warnings should be extra cautious as this heat wave will be the hottest stretch of summer so far for many.
Heading into this weekend, the orientation of heat is expected to shift. The FOX Forecast Center said an upper-level ridge will amplify over the Central Plains, resulting in the continuation of hot weather over the central U.S.
The World Meteorological Organization said globally, the first three weeks of July have been the warmest three-week period on record. The month is on track to be the hottest July and the hottest month on record.
“These temperatures have been related to heatwaves in large parts of North America, Asia and Europe, which along with wildfires in countries including Canada and Greece, have had major impacts on people’s health, the environment and economies,” the agency said.
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This comes following on the heels of the hottest June on record. According to data, the previous hottest July and month on record was July 2019.
The extreme heat has claimed several lives this summer, including at least two people inside Death Valley National Park in California. In Phoenix’s Maricopa County, Arizona, officials said at least 25 deaths have been reported since the start of the summer. Of those, 18 have been caused by the heat and seven were categorized as “heat-related.”
Earlier this month, a 10-month-old was left alone in a hot car in Florida and died. This year 14 people have died in hot cars, 6 were in Florida.
Several people have also died in Texas since June due to the extreme heat. The Nevada Health District reports at least 15 dead so far.
There is some relief in sight from the heat for many Americans this weekend. As cooler weather pushes into the North, the FOX Forecast center calculates that those experiencing above-average temperatures will drop to around 134 million on Sunday, and of those, only about 1 million will see temperatures of at least 10 degrees above average.