Photo: EPA / ETIENNE LAURENT / EFE
With hundreds of wildfires, a devastating drought and a summer marked by a unique heat wave, also more than 20 Millions of Americans in the West are on alert before another historic heat wave.
“We’ve had two excessive heat alerts this summer, I don’t recall having two in the same summer,” said Dana Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle to CNN .
It’s not just the Northwest the that you will have “the feeling that temperatures” will skyrocket above the 100 degrees. More than half of the United States is under heat alerts this week.
The Northwest prepares for another round of record temperatures
A massive high pressure area is strengthening across the Pacific Northwest and will set the stage for another classic “heat dome”.
This will make temperatures rise between 20 Y 25 degrees above normal, possibly breaking more records.
The National Weather Service in Portland, Oregon, issued a heat advisory excessive , as temperatures in the city are forecast to reach 90 gra two higher for Wednesday and possibly overshadow the 100 grades both Thursday and Friday.
Forecast confidence continues to increase for an intense heat wave beginning on Tue. or Wed. and lasting through at least Friday. Fairly poor overnight relief is also expected, so heat exhaustion and heat stroke will be a real concern for those without access to a cool building. pic.twitter.com/YOJdtjzcQa
– NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) August 8, 2021
In total, could be set more than 100 record temperatures at the end of the week.
According to Joe Zagrodnik, an atmospheric scientist at Washington State University, the next heat wave would be considered a “once in a decade” event if the decade was not the most recent, the decade of 2010.
The heat spreads throughout the country
It is not only the West that will bake with the heat wave August, much of the entire nation will be too.
“Most of the 48 states will be stuck in abnormally hot conditions until mid-week, ”said the Weather Prediction Center (WPC). Heat advisories have been issued from the Central Plains and the Mississippi Valley to the lower Great Lakes and the Northeast.
Over half of the population is under either a Heat Advisory or Excessive Heat Watch / Warning this evening. Heat indices up to 110 will affect the Mississippi Valley tomorrow, while in the PNW and Northeast highs into the upper 90 s and low 100 s will persist into the early weekend. pic.twitter.com/2HiW4hJTBc
– NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) August 11, 2021
Warm temperatures combined with high humidity will cause temperatures sit up to 15 degrees higher than they actually are.
Near New York City, Thursday and Friday highs will be between 90 and mid-90, with heat indices between the mid-90 Y 104.
“In the Northeast New Jersey Urban Corridor and parts of New York City, heat indices can briefly reach 105 on Thursday afternoon and possibly again on Friday, ”said the NWS in New York City.