Summer technically starts next week and will show the US what it’s capable of in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution and without El Niño.
Prolonged, record-breaking heat is on the way for an area of the country that has largely avoided it so far, wildfire risks are rising in parts of the West and bathtub-warm water could fuel the first tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Heat arrived in the eastern half of the country Friday, but it’s just an appetizer of what’s to come. An expansive and exceptionally strong heat dome builds Sunday over the East and expands to reach the Midwest and Great Lakes over the following days, ushering in the regions’ first significant heat wave of the year.
Heat domes trap air in place and bake it with abundant sunshine for days on end, making each day hotter than the last. This one will make temperatures skyrocket to levels hotter than even the hottest typical summer day.
Hundreds of temperature records could fall by the end of next week, both during the day and at night.
Temperatures will top out 15 to 20 degrees above normal over a huge portion of the eastern half of the country Monday afternoon, but surge even higher to reach 25 degrees above normal at times from Tuesday through Friday.
This translates to days of high temperatures well into the 90s for tens of millions of people who don’t typically bake in long-lasting heat.
Relief from the heat won’t be found at night, which is another symptom of a warming world. Overnight low temperatures aren’t expected to drop below the low 70s or upper 60s in many locations.
To make matters worse, humidity will work in tandem with extreme heat to send the heat index – how heat feels to the human body – to dangerous triple digits in parts of the East. Heat index values in the low 100s are possible as far north as Maine next week.
The health risks from heat will reach extreme levels for millions next week, according to a scale from the National Weather Service and CDC. Heat is the deadliest form of weather in the US, killing more than twice as many people each year on average as hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
