O suffocating heat wave The impact on parts of the US broke heat records and prompted a health warning about air quality, and is suspected of contributing to at least seven deaths.
More than 130 million people in the West, East Coast, southeast Texas and South Florida were under a heat warning on Tuesday, and a large swath of the western U.S. sweltered in “red flag” conditions due to the risk of forest fires.
In New York’s Central Park, the heat index made it feel like 96 degrees, the National Weather Service said. At Newark Liberty International Airport, in nearby New Jersey, the number was 103.
In the New York metropolitan area and the Lower Hudson Valley area, an air quality health advisory was also in effect until 11 p.m.
At least seven deaths in the western US are suspected of being caused by the extreme heat, officials said. Five people have died in Oregon since Friday, and those deaths are being investigated as possibly heat-related, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
In Death Valley, California, a motorcyclist died due to suspected heat exposure and another was hospitalized for severe heat illness on Saturday. Another man, Kevin Gerhardt of Sacramento, died Sunday because of the heat, NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento reported.
In Skagit County, Washington, the road surface gave way because of scorching temperatures. Crews over the weekend fixed the “heat buildup,” the state Department of Transportation said.
Warm weather is expected to hit the Pacific Northwest on Thursday and the West over the weekend. The heat and humidity, however, will remain in the East for the rest of the week and into the weekend.
Las Vegas reached 117 degrees on Tuesday, breaking a daily record set in 2021, the local weather service said.
It was so hot in Phoenix on Tuesday that the forecast minimum temperature at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport was 91 degrees. It was 115 degrees there around 5pm. On Monday, Phoenix’s recorded temperature of 118 degrees broke a record for July 8. The previous record for that date, 115 degrees, was set in 1985, the weather service said in.
Heat records will continue to be broken in the coming days, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, which said high temperatures will be 10 to 30 degrees above average.
Parts of California were under excessive heat warnings until Friday night. Meteorologists warned that the Sacramento Valley will have high temperatures of 105 to 113 degrees.
Salt Lake City was under an excessive heat warning until midnight Saturday, with highs of 100 to 105 degrees each afternoon, the weather service said.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
