Phoenix breaks temperature-streak record as 70 million Americans sizzle in triple-digit heat
To underscore just how expansive this heat is, based on the current forecast, approximately 27 million people across the Lower 48 will experience an air temperature or heat index above 110 degrees over the next 7 days.
No relief: Heat wave continues for next 2 weeks
The FOX Forecast Center is tracking continued record heat for the next two weeks with above average temperatures for much of the Southwest, Central and Southeast.
More than 70 million Americans are under heat alerts Tuesday from the Desert Southwest to Florida, and triple-digit temperatures that just won't let up will be sticking around.
"I think most of you know how this story goes," FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin said. "We have almost 9 million Americans that are waking up to 90 degrees or hotter."
HELLISH HEAT WAVE SEARING U.S. LIKELY TO DRAG ON FOR WEEKS
(FOX Weather)
The upper-level ridge of high pressure responsible for the heat wave in the West will expand farther across the Southwest and Gulf Coast states through mid-week.
Feels-like temperatures, or how warm the body thinks the air is when humidity and other factors are taken into account, have already ventured into the 110- to 120-degree zone during the heat wave.
The extreme heat has lasted long enough in Arizona to break a nearly 50-year-old temperature heat streak record. On Tuesday before noon, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport hit 110 degrees, marking the 19th consecutive day with a temperature at or above 110 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, this breaks the previous 18-day record set in 1974. With the current forecast, the streak will likely continue well past Tuesday.
Record-breaking heat is expected in the Four Corners states, Texas to the Lower Mississippi Valley and South Florida each day. Daytime highs will routinely reside in the triple digits in the Desert Southwest and Texas, and feel like triple digits along the Gulf Coast and Florida.
On Tuesday, two dozen record-high temperatures are at risk of being broken.
(FOX Weather)
Not just hot but dangerously hot
According to the National Weather Service, the surface temperature of asphalt in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area got up to nearly 158 degrees Sunday. The inside of some vehicles heated up to 178 degrees.
The heat there has been downright dangerous and can be deadly. The Southern Nevada Health District said seven people have already died since April in Southern Nevada due to heat-related illness.
DELTA PASSENGERS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FALL ILL AWAITING TAKEOFF IN LAS VEGAS AMID 114-DEGREE TEMPS
Satya Soviet Patnaik shields himself from the sun while waiting in line to take a photo at the historic Welcome to Las Vegas Sign during a heat wave in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 14, 2023.
(RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP / Getty Images)
Still, there have been plenty of people out on the Las Vegas Strip braving the high temperatures.
"It feels like I’m a little pig, like a rotisserie chicken in Walmart spinning around, you know?" tourist Sky Summer told FOX Weather on Monday.
The Gulf Coast and mid-South can expect daytime highs in the mid- to upper 90s that coincide with miserably high dew points, resulting in sweltering heat indices between 105 and 115 degrees.
"I know that we always have heat and humidity in Florida, but it's very notable what's happening in Florida over the past month," Merwin said. "And that will be continuing at least for the next few weeks."
Merwin adds that because the water temperatures surrounding Florida are so warm that the state is not even getting a break with the afternoon thunderstorms.
"We're transporting in warm air off of warm water onto land that is hot and humid," she said. "So there's no source here that can cool anything down."
Daily low temperatures will remain quite warm, breaking record-warm daily minimums in some areas, allowing for minimal relief from the heat overnight.
COUNTRY STAR JASON ALDEAN SAYS HE SUFFERED HEAT EXHAUSTION DURING CONNECTICUT CONCERT
(FOX Weather)
No real relief in sight
An expansive area of Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories remains in the Southwest, Southern Plains, western Gulf Coast, and even parts of South Florida, where the air-sea interaction is leading to a feedback loop between the air and water temperatures due to the lighter than average wind flow, the FOX Forecast Center said.
HEAT KILLS MORE AMERICANS THAN FLOODING, TORNADOES, HURRICANES OR LIGHTNING
(FOX Weather)
Unfortunately, the long-term outlook for the region shows the heat wave persisting into next week. To underscore just how expansive this heat is, based on the current forecast, approximately 27 million people across the Lower 48 will experience an air temperature or heat index above 110 degrees over the next 7 days.
(FOX Weather)