The heat baking the US Southwest will likely get worse
STORY: It’s been more than 12 days in a row of temperatures soaring above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, Arizona.
While some have found respite in places like water parks, the heat is showing no signs of going away.
At the National Weather Service Phoenix office, meteorologists like Sean Benedict have repeatedly been faced with worrying signals.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) SEAN BENEDICT, LEAD METEOROLOGIST AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX OFFICE, SAYING:
"Once we start to see the reds and the purples, that's when we start to issue our excessive heat watches and warnings and in the current heat wave, we do have a lot of major and extreme heat risk.”
Multiple records are close to being broken in the state.
Arizona’s capital has already smashed the previous number of consecutive days under an excessive heat warning.
Tom Frieders is in charge of warning coordination at the NWS in the state.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM FRIEDERS, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX OFFICE, SAYING:
"The stretch of consecutive days of 110 degrees plus -- specifically for Phoenix, we're at 12 days currently for those consecutive days. The record is actually 18 days, so if we can continue, if we continue with these extreme afternoon temperatures, we would be breaking that record early next week."
A prolonged heat wave is blanketing a swath of the U.S. - stretching from California, through Texas and all the way across the South Florida.
Forecasters are expecting temperatures to shatter records in parts of the Southwest in the coming days.
The NWS has issued excessive heat advisories, watches and warnings for areas where about 100 million Americans live.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM FRIEDERS, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX OFFICE, SAYING:
"We're looking at potential daily records for high temperatures being broken from California to the west through Arizona, all the way into west Texas. So it's a really significant expansion of the heat and daily records could be broken and it looks like the peak of the heat looks to be coming in Friday through next Monday and that's when a lot of records will be in jeopardy."
While stifling temperatures gripped many parts of the country, Vermont and other Northeastern states barely had time to recover from historic flooding.
Extreme weather also threatened the Chicago area Wednesday, where video showed sirens warning of tornadoes in the wake of severe thunderstorms.
The growing frequency and intensity of severe weather across the U.S. is symptomatic of global, human-driven climate change, some experts have said.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM FRIEDERS, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX OFFICE, SAYING:
"Certainly with climate change, it's hard to link one heat wave to another with another and link that to climate change, but certainly we've seen that pattern where temperatures are on the rise.”
There’s little relief in store for Phoenix residents.
Overnight lows are also consistently holding above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
