Topline
An early summer heat wave set record temperatures across the Southwest on Friday and Saturday, with many more records likely to fall in the coming days as scorching conditions take hold of a massive chunk of the United States.
Record high temperatures are falling across the Southwest in a historic early summer heat wave.
Key Facts
Nearly the entire state of Texas is under either a heat advisory or the stronger excessive heat warning designation for widespread temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with the mercury topping 105 across much of the western half of the state.
The heat has been even more extreme in desert areas of the Southwest, like Death Valley, which set a record high of 123 degrees on Friday, with the temperature expected to reach 125 degrees on Saturday.
Record highs fell Friday in several major cities, including Phoenix (113), Las Vegas (109) and Austin, Texas (103).
Austin again reached 103 just before 4 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday—two degrees above the existing record high for June 11—while a 97 degree reading in Houston also set a new record for the day.
Big Number
More than 70 million. That’s how many Americans are under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories.
What To Watch For
Sunday is expected to be even hotter across Texas, with Dallas forecasted to reach 104, flirting with the June 12 record high of 105. Temperatures will slowly moderate over the Southwest in coming days as a high pressure system creates a huge area of stagnant air, commonly called a heat dome, that is expected to push toward the Southeast, where cities like Atlanta could deal with record heat during the next week.
Key Background
A heat wave this extreme this early in the summer is unusual, but climate scientists warn such events will likely become more common as one of the most immediate impacts of the continued rise in global temperatures. Death Valley’s 123 degree reading on Friday was the third-earliest in the year that temperature has ever been recorded in the U.S., according to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera.
Contra
A remote area of northwestern Montana is under a winter storm watch, with up to two feet of snow expected for elevations above 7,000 feet between Monday evening and late Tuesday night.
Further Reading
‘Dangerous And Deadly’ Heat Wave Sweeping Southwest This Weekend (Forbes)
By 2030, Earth Could Experience Once-Per-Century Heat Waves Every Other Year, Study Says (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/06/11/more-than-70-million-bake-in-record-breaking-southwest-heat-wave-and-its-pushing-east/