USA I was hoping to register this week. extreme temperatures both hot and cold. Authorities warned people in the Southwest to take action as the heat wave moved east, while downpours and flooding could hit the Gulf of Mexico states and snow threatened parts of the Rockies and the northwest of the country.
A Extreme heat spread across Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado and Kansas on Sunday. Meanwhile, it was unusually cold for the time of year in the northwest Pacific coast, with snow forecast in the northern Rockies and showers between the northern Plains and the northernmost part of the north central part of the country.
The National Weather Service (NWS) estimated that more than 63 million people were under heat advisories on Sunday, from the Southwest and north to Denver and Chicago.
Temperatures in Phoenix, which reached 44.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, eased slightly on Sunday to 43.3 degrees Celsius. NWS meteorologists say the first two weeks of June in Phoenix have already been an average of 5.6ºF (about 14.6ºC) warmer than normal, making it the hottest start to June on record.
“We've already seen some significantly high temperatures in our area,” said Ted Whittock, NWS meteorologist in Phoenix. “We recommend that everyone reduce their time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., stay hydrated, and wear light, loose-fitting clothing.”
The heat in the Phoenix metropolitan area will ease somewhat between Monday and Wednesday, and highs will rise again as the week progresses, likely prompting another excessive heat advisory, Whittock said.
In recent years, the heat has been especially dangerous in metropolitan Phoenix, where 645 people died from heat-related causes in 2023, a record.
The city and Maricopa County have taken additional steps this year in hopes of keeping people safer, such as two new nighttime refreshment centers where people can rest with air conditioning when the sun sets. There are more than 100 additional refreshment centers open from May 1, where people can get cold water and sit somewhere cool during the day.
In neighboring New Mexico, a heat advisory was issued over the weekend in the plains of Chavez County, including Roswell, where highs were expected to reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday. Albuquerque reached 37°C on Sunday and was expected to ease to 36°C on Monday. Sunday's high was 40°C in El Paso, Texas, which opened five cooling centers.
Temperatures in Colorado ranged from 32.2ºC in metropolitan areas of Denver to 37.7ºC in the southern city of Pueblo, with forecasts of more than 38ºC on Monday in the south of the state.
The heat wave was moving toward the Plains and Great Lakes area on Sunday, and was expected to reach the Northeast by Tuesday. The threat of thunderstorms with the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain grew in the Chicago area, at the same time that temperatures around 37.7 ºC (100 ºF) were expected by mid-week.
As the heat spread eastward, temperatures in Washington DC and the rest of the central Atlantic coast, as well as New England, could hover around 36ºC throughout the week, with high humidity that would aggravate the wind chill.
The United States recorded its highest number of heat waves last yearunusually hot weather lasting more than two days, since 1936.
While much of the country was baking, late snowfall was announced in the northern Rockies on Monday and Tuesday. Parts of Montana and northcentral Idaho were under a winter storm watch with up to 6 inches of heavy, wet rain in the mountains around Missoula, Montana. Up to 20 inches of snow was expected at higher elevations around Glacier National Park.
Meanwhile, a new round of tropical moisture would increase the threat of downpours and flash flooding along the central Gulf Coast on Sunday and Monday. Heavy rain was expected starting Monday morning, and the mass of moisture would move toward the Gulf Coast by Tuesday.
The severe flooding caused by rain continued to subside in southern Florida, where some areas in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and their surrounding areas were submerged for several days due to storms that dumped up to 50 cm of water.
That unnamed storm system coincided with the early start of hurricane season, which was forecast to be one of the most active in recent memory.
