Wect heat alerts kept more than 18 million Americans under Extreme Heat Warnings on Thursday as oppressive heat held on across the South and Southeast. The FOX Forecast Center said some relief was starting to build, but the hardest-hit areas were still facing dangerous conditions.
Extreme Heat Warnings and 72 Million
More than 72 million Americans were under Heat Alerts on Thursday, and parts of the South had already seen feels-like temperatures as high as 115 degrees. That is the practical benchmark for the day: even where air temperatures began easing, heat already driven into dangerous territory was still affecting outdoor work, travel, and evening recovery.
Nearly 50 record-high temperatures fell across the South this week. The FOX Forecast Center also said this has been the hottest summer on record for 36 cities from Texas through the Carolinas and Florida.
Canada Drives Some Relief
A system bringing cold air from Canada had begun to dive south and was breaking up part of the heat dome over the Southeast. Air temperatures were beginning to drop into the mid- and low-90s, and winds from the north were expected to cut some of the humidity across the South this weekend.
That still leaves a sharp split in conditions. A Level 4 out of 4 extreme HeatRisk remained through Friday across the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Southeast coast, and nighttime low temperatures were likely to stay in the upper 70s.
Dallas Miami Oklahoma City
Dallas reached 105 degrees Monday and could stay at or above 105 through next Tuesday. That would make it the city’s longest stretch at or above 105 degrees since 1980, which is the clearest sign that the heat is not easing everywhere at the same pace.
Miami reached 100 degrees Tuesday, its hottest day in 84 years, and it has reached triple digits only 2 times in recorded history. Oklahoma City reached 109 degrees Tuesday for the first time after August 11 since record-keeping began, after having hit 109 degrees only 21 times in recorded history before that day.
The unresolved question is how much cooling and humidity relief residents will actually get by the weekend, because the broad easing in the South does not erase the lingering extreme HeatRisk along the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Southeast coast.
