A sprawling heat dome — or zone of intense high pressure — is forecast to become reestablished over the southern United States this weekend, affecting many of the same regions that have already endured punishing temperatures this summer.
The National Weather Service says the upcoming weather pattern supports above-normal temperatures over “almost all” of the Lower 48 states.
The heat will first spread over the central and southern Plains, with highs soaring well past 100 on Sunday and Monday. By the start of August, high temperatures in the 90s or greater will extend from coast to coast.
The Weather Service’s 0 to 4 HeatRisk scale shows large parts of the nation reaching at least Level 2 and 3 — moderate and major — by the middle of the next week. A number of locations in the central states, including Amarillo, Tex., Wichita and Kansas City, Mo., are forecast to reach Level 4, or extreme.
Heat builds Sunday and Monday
The heat is expected to return to portions of the central and southern United States by late this weekend and early next week
The central Plains should brace for the “most persistent and extreme” heat, according to the Weather Service. High temperatures there, well into the triple digits, will be 10 to 15 degrees above normal.
Multiple days of record-challenging highs from 105 to 110 are expected in the Texas Panhandle, parts of Oklahoma and Kansas; highs could even surpass 110 in parts of Kansas by the middle of the week.
Some of the heat will expand into eastern Colorado and New Mexico. Denver could also see highs approaching 100 early next week.
And the heat wave is projected to be prolonged. There is potential for at least five days with highs of at least 100 to 105 in the southern and central Plains.
A scorching start to August
By the second half of next week, when August begins, the Weather Service projects much of the country will be hotter than normal, except perhaps parts of the Southeast, Gulf Coast and parts of the West Coast, where temperatures will be near average.
The southern and central Plains are predicted to remain at the epicenter of the heat wave.
The heat’s intensity may be most prolonged in the western states. By the second week of August, computer models project a powerful heat dome anchored over the region. Underneath it, drought will intensify and expand, and the fire risk may escalate. In Oregon, where many of the largest U.S. fires are burning, the ongoing drought will probably worsen, with little rain in sight.
The Weather Service favors above-average temperatures for much of the nation during August, with the highest odds in the Mountain West and Appalachians. The projected heat in August will almost certainly propel many locations to their hottest summer on record.
How hot it’s already been
The potentially steamy August follows a brutally hot July in which hundreds of heat records have been set.
In recent days, record highs have been numerous from the northern Rockies to the northern Plains. Locations in Montana and the Dakotas just witnessed their hottest temperatures of the year.
Wednesday saw highs near 110 as far north as the Canadian border. Records included 107 in Havre, Mont., and Williston, N.D. Temperatures in Salt Lake City reached 105, and Boise, Idaho, hit 107.
Thursday’s record high footprint was somewhat smaller as a cold front pushed east, but Williston soared to 109, Rapid City, S.D., reached 105, and Casper, Wyo., hit 100.
The cold front that fanned massive blazes from Alberta, Canada, to Northern California is briefly pushing the heat away.
But, as the Earth is experiencing its hottest days on record, the heat — intensified by human-caused climate change — is poised to reload.
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