Deep South continues to sizzle as wicked heat wave drags into July 4th holiday
The deadly excessive heat that plagued Texas has moved east and will bake the Southeast over the holiday weekend, but there is hope on the horizon that this feverish weather is coming to an end.
Dangerous heat gripping the South shifting east
Deadly heat that has been gripping the South for more than two weeks will shift east with heat alerts in effect from the Mississippi Valley to the mid-Atlantic.
The heat wave that claimed lives in Texas has moved into the Deep South, where temperatures are feeling like it's between 105 and 110 degrees ahead of the July 4th holiday.
The deaths of more than 10 people in the Lone Star State have been attributed to the excessive heat that has baked the southern U.S. for more than two weeks. On Friday, the heart of the high-pressure system responsible for the unusual early-summer heat moved east.
A boy cools off in a swimming pool at Barton Creek as extreme temperatures across Texas have prompted the National Weather Service to issue excessive heat warnings and heat advisories that affect more than 40 million people in Austin, Texas, on June 27, 2023.
(SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP / Getty Images)
Heat alerts cover more than 60 million Americans from far eastern Texas to Georgia and from Tennessee to Florida and the Carolinas through Sunday evening.
(FOX Weather)
Temperatures ran 5 to 10 degrees above average in some places Sunday, with forecast highs in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees across the region. Heat index readings, commonly called feels-like temperatures, are expected to range between 105 and 110 degrees.
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Relief in sight
While the weekend has been a furnace in the Deep South, the heat dome is expected to shrink by Monday as a cold front gnaws at it from the north. With the front in the vicinity, chances of rain increase as Independence Day approaches.
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(FOX Weather)
Don’t get too comfortable
While the southern U.S. may get a respite from the scorching weather, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center believes above-average temperatures are likely to reappear across the region by mid-July.
(FOX Weather)