Along with the dismal air quality across the upper Midwest, the main weather story across the nation Wednesday is the deadly, record-breaking heat wave that’s been scorching the south-central U.S. over the past couple of weeks, as temperatures are forecast to approach or surpass 100 degrees from New Mexico to Mississippi.
The heat wave has been blamed for nearly a dozen deaths in west Texas alone. “These are unprecedented temperatures,” said Webb County (Texas) medical examiner Corine Stern this week. Nine people have died in Webb County, Stern said.
And as of Wednesday morning, more than 87 million Americans were under some level of heat alert from the National Weather Service.
“There may be more danger than a typical heat event, due to the longevity of near-record or record high nighttime lows and elevated heat index readings,” the National Weather Service said.
Meanwhile, much of the upper Midwest continued to choke on smoke-filled skies Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed Detroit in the “hazardous” range and warned that “everyone should stay indoors and reduce activity levels.”
This followed a smoky Tuesday: Chicago and Detroit had the worst air-quality in the world on Tuesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted across the upper Midwest.
Most of the upper Midwest will remain under an air-quality advisory through Wednesday, and as the smoke moves east, air quality is expected to reach unhealthy levels in parts of western and central New York and eastern Lake Ontario, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned.
Here’s a look at Wednesday’s forecast.
Brutal Texas heat wave set to reach Central Plains and Mississippi Valley
The heat wave will be “life-threatening” to those working or spending time outdoors Wednesday, the weather service warned, due to the extremely high levels of humidity.
The heat index, which is how hot it feels with humidity factored in, will be in the 110-120 degree range across the eastern third of Texas, along the Central Gulf Coast and north through the Lower Mississippi Valley and Lower Tennessee Valley, the weather service said.
This includes the major metro areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, New Orleans, Little Rock, Jackson, Memphis, Montgomery and Nashville.
“Take this dangerous heat seriously,” said Weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman. “Avoid any prolonged, unnecessary outdoor activity, especially in the hottest part of the day. Check on the elderly and anyone else who may be living without air conditioning.”
US heat index map
Heat, wildfires a concern in parts of California
After a relatively cool couple of weeks across much of California, summer has kicked off with an increasingly hot weather pattern for the interior Valleys of California set to start Thursday and continue into the weekend.
In Southern California, wildfire season has commenced in Riverside County.
A brush fire, named the Juniper Fire, has spread 50 acres burning homes and leading to evacuations Tuesday afternoon in Perris, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles.
Southern California wildfire map
Canadian wildfires deteriorate air quality in Midwest
Poor air quality is set to continue in the Midwest, Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi Valley thanks to Canadian wildfires, according to the weather service. Detroit is under an air quality advisory through Wednesday night.
Chicago and Detroit ranked as the two cities with the worst quality, according to IQAir’s Air Quality Index, switching back and forth between the “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” categories through Tuesday.
US air quality map
US weather warnings and watches
National weather radar
Contributing: The Associated Press
