Unprecedented storms. Unprecedented fires. Unprecedented floods. And now it’s the season for unprecedented heat.
Earlier this year, it was Australia setting all-time heat records that brought power outages and saw wildlife literally dropping from the trees. Last month, Europe broiled under a heat wave that drove blazing dry air up from the Sahara and saw all-time temperature records, for any date, convincingly topped. Now it’s the United States’ turn to bake under a relentless heat wave.
On Thursday morning, more than 130 million Americans are under a heat watch or warning. Temperatures from the mid-90s to triple digits are being accompanied by humidity that is making the already miserable downright deadly—and it gets worse from here. The National Weather Service has forecast even higher temperatures on Friday and Saturday. Storms are expected to douse the heat in many locations on Sunday, but for other sites, the heat will continue unabated.
The National Weather Service states that over half of the contiguous states will see temperatures in excess of 95 degrees F in the next seven days. Legislators in Washington, D.C., are going to find it hard to throw a snowball across the Senate floor, as temperatures in the city could top 100 degrees. This wave is coming on dates that already carry top temperature records in many locations, and it may lack the local intensity to notch up many new records. However, the heat is extremely widespread. It can be expected to drive record demands for electricity and also to generate what could be record threats to human health.
The greatest health threat over the next few days is to infants and the elderly, both of whom have greater difficulty in regulating body temperature. Also at tremendous risk are workers, including many migrant workers, whose jobs require them to be outside in the heat for long hours. Many states are likely to see air temperatures reach or exceed 95 degrees during the next seven days, with 85% experiencing temperatures above 90 degrees during the same period.
The oppressive humidity, added to lingering moisture from Hurricane Barry, can be expected to drive the heat index to 110 degrees F or higher, and while skeptics may scoff that this is not “the real temperature,” it is a real measure of the threat the heat poses to humans left exposed or laboring in these conditions. Be careful. And be watchful for others, because the time between when someone begins to be affected by heat and when the situation becomes life-threatening can be measured in minutes.