Tens of millions of Americans are living under extreme heat advisories and warnings as forecasters warn of “dangerously hot conditions” over the next 24 hours.
“Numerous record highs are forecast to be tied and/or broken in the Northeast today,” the National Weather Service said in a newsletter Sunday of the heat wave that is expected to last until Tuesday. Given the humidity, the bulletin said mercury could it reached 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
An excessive heat advisory was issued for large swaths of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, the bulletin said.
“Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat-related illness, especially for those who work or participate in outdoor activities,” according to the National Weather Service.
From the Southern Plains to the Northeast, the heat will feel “extremely oppressive,” especially in Washington, DC, New York and Boston, the NWS said in another document. tweet. In Boston, forecasters predicted a high of 99 degrees, which would break the daily record.
There has already been one heat-related death in New York. The city’s chief medical examiner said hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema are listed as contributing conditions. No other information about the victim was immediately available.
Nicole Brown wipes sweat from her face near the National Mall in Washington, DC on Friday.Nathan Howard / AP
In a later bulletin, the NWS said 85 million Americans were under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories on Sunday. In the US, heat kills more people annually that any other type of weather event.
“Sweltering heat is also available from central Kansas and Oklahoma to the mid-Mississippi Valley, where a large portion of heat advisories and some excessive heat advisories are in place,” the NWS said.
Temperatures could reach 111 degrees in parts of Oklahoma, including Tulsa, and thermometers could reach the hundreds in Las Vegas and several Texas cities.
The southern and western states have been particularly affected by the sudden droughts. According to the US Drought Monitormore than 63.2% of the country is currently “abnormally dry”, affecting livestock and crops.
Brenda Puritt fills an ice chest outside her family’s home Thursday in Houston. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Further north and west, “record daily” temperatures are possible from Northern California to the Portland and Seattle metro areas this coming Tuesday, and a “prolonged heat wave” will begin Sunday and peak during the second midweek, the NWS said. .
The latest weather advisory comes after multiple heat emergencies were declared earlier this week, including in Philadelphia, where air-conditioned cooling buses have been parked and public libraries have extended hours as residents they can cool off from the heat. Boston and Washington enacted similar plans.
“Climate change is fueling these nasty heat waves that are almost unbelievable, and we’re still not used to it,” Kim Knowlton, clinical assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University.
Alex Ruane, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Reuters that as the world warms, “it takes less of a natural anomaly to push us into the extreme heat categories.”
“As we get closer to those thresholds, you’re more likely to have more than one heat wave at the same time. We’re seeing that across the United States,” he said.
Conditions will remain largely the same through Monday night, when a cold front is expected to bring some relief to the Northeast and Midwest, forecasters said.
But they added that “abnormally warm temperatures” will continue throughout the week, and possibly into early next week in the southern plains.
