According to the NWS (National Weather Service), next week, starting July 13, an abnormal heat wave is expected across almost the entire United States. Experts say a new heat wave will hit the country this weekend and will last until at least July 19, with some areas of the country feeling its effects until the end of the month. In many regions, including at night, temperatures will be 15-25 degrees above normal. F° (8-14 C°).
In addition to an extended period of above-normal minimum and maximum temperatures, new records cannot be ruled out, the weather service added. The heat wave will be associated with a high or extreme level of heat risk, the NWS noted.
“There will be a broad and abnormally strong high over the Intermountain West, Northern Plains, and Midwest, resulting in prolonged and dangerous heat in these regions,” the NWS said.
Meteorologists blame the weather anomaly on a heat dome, a large area of high pressure that creates hot, dry conditions within it for days or weeks. The phenomenon, according to experts, will cover most of the 48 states in the main part of the country. This year's situation has been linked to El Niño, a natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean that causes temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial region to be at least 0.9°F (0.5°C) above normal.
The last wave of abnormal heat in the United States killed at least 30 people on the East Coast of the United States, after which the region was covered by storms, RTVI reported.
Rain and thunderstorms are also likely on the southern periphery of the new anticyclone, in particular in western and central Texas there is an increased likelihood of heavy rains and flash floods, meteorologists say. Showers and thunderstorms are also forecast for the southwest before affecting the New England region in the northeast, which includes six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
The upcoming “spectacular heat wave” will be a long-lasting, widespread and high-intensity heat event that will affect millions of people for more than a week, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, told The Associated Press (AP).
“We know that heat waves are becoming more intense, lasting longer and affecting larger areas than before due to man-made climate change. So when we see events like this, we know that they are at least partially related to long-term warming,” Swain explained.
The climatologist added that a new heat wave threatens the continuation of drought in those areas where there is already little moisture in the soil, as well as the risk of forest fires, which, by the way, have already engulfed Europe.
