Most of America's Lower 48 states are about to swelter under an unusually large, strong and long-lasting heat dome that will spike temperatures in a way that the National Weather Service calls "significant and dangerous." This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The heat wave will start this weekend and last at least a week, with some areas feeling its effects until the end of the month, meteorologists said. Temperatures will be 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 14 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal in many areas, including at night. Hotter nighttime temperatures are especially bad for both human health and efforts to tamp down an already active wildfire season.
"This upcoming heat wave does look pretty remarkable," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. "This is going to be a long duration, widespread and high-intensity heat event that's going to affect millions of people for over a week."
A dome of high pressure — which traps hot air like a pot lid while blocking cooling winds and rain — will initially park over the Northern Plains, but it will be so big that it will trap sweltering temperatures across as much as two-thirds of the continental United States, three meteorologists told The Associated Press. While it will initially miss the East Coast, the heat dome will shift and wobble, maybe even spreading from coast-to-coast over the next 10 days or more.
Forecasters are expecting record triple-digit highs this weekend in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The weather service is predicting more than 90 U.S. local temperature records will be tied or broken through Wednesday, with two-thirds being overnight heat records that can hinder how the human body recovers from broiling days.
"Nights can be just as dangerous as days. If you don't get heat relief at night, that's going to spill out into your daytime experience and become extremely dangerous," said meteorologist Bob Henson with Yale Climate Connections. "Heat is not to be played with. It's just as dangerous as a tornado or hurricane that can kill you just as easily, just in a quiet and different way."
Swain said what makes this heat wave so different is how big a warm shadow it will cast and how long it will persist. In the past couple of weeks, major heat waves have caused extensive suffering in Europe.