Intensive Heat Wave Grips United States
California, The Gulf Observer: An intensive heat wave continues to grip much of the United States this weekend, with record-breaking temperatures placing millions under heat alerts.
“A heat wave will continue over much of the eastern U.S. south of a quasi-stationary boundary,” the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) announced on Saturday. The WPC highlighted that the most anomalous and dangerous early summer temperatures are affecting portions of the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and extending to the Mid-Atlantic.
“Conditions will remain hot from central to southern California,” the WPC added, forecasting highs on Sunday and Monday to range in the mid- to upper 100s Fahrenheit. According to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, over 115 million people across the United States are currently under active National Weather Service (NWS) extreme heat alerts.
A heat dome, caused by a high-pressure system trapping hot air near the ground, has settled over the Midwest and Northeast, causing record-breaking temperatures in several cities. Phoenix, Arizona, has experienced its hottest days of 2024 so far, with temperatures soaring to 46 degrees Celsius this week. The first 19 days of June are the hottest on record for Phoenix, with an average temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest year in 129 years of records, according to Arizona’s Family.
The extreme heat has claimed the lives of at least six people, with another 87 deaths under investigation for potential heat-related causes, according to the Maricopa County Public Health Department’s latest heat surveillance report on June 15. Last year, Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, experienced a devastating 645 heat-related deaths, a sharp increase from the 425 confirmed deaths in 2022.
Much of California is also under heat advisories, affecting major cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. The NWS issued a heat advisory for Southern California, in effect through Sunday night, warning of temperatures reaching between 32.2 and 37.8 degrees Celsius. In Northern California’s Sacramento Valley, temperatures could reach 41.7 degrees Celsius.
This heat wave exacerbates the already challenging wildfire season in California, where dry and windy conditions have fueled several large fires. Despite progress in containing some blazes, forecasted high temperatures for the weekend are expected to hinder ongoing efforts to combat wildfires that have already burned thousands of acres across the state. Wildfires have burned over 400 square kilometers so far this year in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
On the eastern side, New York City is bracing for potentially the longest stretch of 32-degree Celsius days in June on record, prompting the NWS to issue a heat advisory in effect until Sunday night. Philadelphia has extended a heat health emergency through midnight on Sunday, according to the city’s Department of Public Health. Washington, D.C. is also facing a heat emergency, with temperatures expected to exceed 38 degrees Celsius on Sunday, potentially surpassing the previous record set in the 1980s and marking the first time the district has reached triple digits since 2016, according to AccuWeather.
