More than 111 million people in the US face extreme heat
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A man pours water atop his head outside the Emergency Aid Coalition during a heat wave in Houston, Texas, on Aug 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - More than 57 million people in the American South and South-west were under an excessive heat warning on Saturday afternoon – the most severe category for heat conditions – as temperatures across the Gulf Coast and parts of the South-west soared to record-breaking levels and were expected to remain high through early next week.
The warnings reached as far north as southern Illinois and the region surrounding St Louis, which the National Weather Service said was expected to have its seventh day of heat indexes over 37.8 deg C.
A heat index factors in humidity – which can make the air feel swampier and more suffocating – to determine how hot it really feels even at a deceptively lower air temperature.
“Extreme heat and abnormally high overnight temperatures will persist in the South” over the weekend, forecasters with the Weather Prediction Centre said early on Saturday, adding that “widespread record-high and -low temperatures are likely to be tied or broken across the Gulf Coast”.
An additional 54 million people were under a heat advisory on Saturday afternoon, including in the South-east and Pacific North-west. Forecasters warned residents that they should “not underestimate” the health risks of extreme heat, which can result in serious illness or death.
Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, Texas “set new daily record highs (again)” on Friday, reaching 43.3 deg C, according to the weather service office in the region.
A high of 42.2 deg C was possible for Saturday in Dallas and Fort Worth, which would break a record for the day of 41.1 deg C, reached in 1999 and 2011. The city of Austin is expected to reach a high of 41.1 deg C on Saturday.
The heat index in the New Orleans region was also expected to reach “oppressive” levels on Saturday, forecasters said, hitting 47.8 deg C in Covington and 46.1 deg C in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
A high of 38.9 deg C in New Orleans and 40.6 deg C in Baton Rouge were forecast for Saturday, which would break daily temperature records in both cities.
Forecasters in Phoenix said residents could expect a high of 45 deg C on Saturday, adding that “a stretch of record-hot temperatures” will begin on Sunday and continue through the early part of the week, reaching 46.1 deg C on Monday and Tuesday.
Memphis, Tennessee, recorded a high of 38.9 deg C on Friday, breaking the daily record of 38.3 deg C set in 1943. It then recorded a minimum of 26.7 deg C on Saturday, a degree above the record set in 2014.
Heat indexes in excess of 43.3 deg C were also expected on Saturday in Little Rock, Arkansas; Macon and Columbus, Georgia; Lafayette, Louisiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tallahassee, Florida; and Gulfport, Biloxi and Jackson, Mississippi.
Punishing heat conditions in the South have been relentless this summer, compounded by suffocating humidity and a scarcity of rainfall. NYTIMES
