A person transports a water jug through a neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 14, 2023. Swaths of the United States home to more than 80 million people were under heat warnings or advisories Sunday, as relentless, record-breaking temperatures continued to bake western and southern states.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of “a widespread and oppressive heat wave” in parts of the Southwest, western Gulf Coast, and southern Florida, with sizzling temperatures carrying into the coming week raising health risks for millions.
Sunday’s high was forecast at 114F. The NWS has said heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States and urged Americans to take the risk seriously. Health risks
Authorities have been sounding the alarm for days, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to avoid dehydration, which can quickly become fatal in such temperatures.
In Arizona, the state capital Phoenix has recorded 16 straight days above 109F, as temperatures hit 118F Saturday afternoon and stayed above 90F (32C) overnight. The mercury climbed again Sunday afternoon to 109F, expected to peak at 114F.
Volunteers have been organized to direct Phoenix residents to cooling centers and distribute bottles of water and hats, but program head David Hondula told the local ABC station that its three-days-per-week schedule is “clearly… not enough.”
In Miami, the NWS on Sunday issued its first-ever Excessive Heat Warning for the region, in effect until 7:00 pm, as heat and humidity mixed to create a “feels-like” temperature expected to hit 112F.
“Just when I take a drink of water, I get dizzy, I want to vomit because of the heat,” he told AFP, saying it was crucial to stay hydrated. Residents of the metropolis have been asked to conserve electricity from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm Saturday through Monday, in an attempt to mitigate high demand.
Heat waves are occurring more often and more intensely in major US cities, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, with a frequency of six per year during the 2010s and 2020s compared to two per year during the 1960s.
“This heat wave is NOT typical desert heat,” the NWS’s Las Vegas office tweeted Thursday, specifying that “its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures, & warm nights” were unusual.
Flooding has also ravaged parts of the northeastern US in recent weeks. On Sunday, officials in eastern Pennsylvania’s Bucks County reported four people dead and three others missing after a storm the day before unleashed up to seven inches (18 centimeters) of rain in one hour, causing flash flooding that swept away vehicles.