Washington.- Some one hundred million inhabitants of the south and west of the United States remain under alerts for extreme heat, while the weekend floods in the northeast of the country have left damage, road closures and at least five deaths and two missing minors, including a baby.
Heat
The “relentless” heat continues in the south of the country and is expected to break several records until Tuesday,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said on Monday.
Some 99 million people, that is 29% of the country’s population, reside in regions affected by extreme heat, detailed the National Integrated Heat and Health Information System (NIHHIS).
For Tuesday, meteorologists predict maximum temperatures of 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in Phoenix, Arizona; 44 (111) in Las Vegas (Nevada) and 42 (107) in Dallas (Texas).
The Weather Channel also predicts that temperatures will continue to rise through Tuesday and Wednesday, with wind chills of up to 43 Celsius (110 Fahrenheit) in Little Rock, Arkansas, 42 (197) in Memphis, Tennessee, and 41 (105) in New York. Orleans (Louisiana).
The NIHHIS map shows extreme heat alerts from the coasts of California to Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, while the NWS warned that the Gulf Coast and the south can expect temperatures of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius (90 to 93 Fahrenheit).
These temperatures, the NWS added, coincide with oppressive levels of humidity resulting in heat indices between 41 and 46 Celsius (105 to 115 Fahrenheit).
Rains
Meanwhile, unstable atmospheric conditions will bring rain and storms to the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Northeast and Florida this Monday and into Tuesday, according to the NWS.
The weekend floods left five dead and two minors missing after a flash flood that swept away more than a dozen vehicles on a road in Bucks County (Pennsylvania).
The NWS stressed that more strong to intense storms will occur along a front that extends from the northern Plains to the Ohio Valley.
However, according to the NWS, heavy rains in the northeast will gradually move offshore.
The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, declared an emergency in his state in recent hours due to intense storms in the region that have damaged highways.
Meanwhile, flooding in Connecticut has disrupted traffic on dozens of streets and forced the suspension of operations at New Haven’s Tweed Airport.
On Sunday, the NWS issued a flood warning for most of Massachusetts and a possible tornado warning was extended to all of New England.
The FlightAware.com website said that as of Monday morning at least 303 commercial flights had been canceled and delays occurred on another 1,530 flights.
On the other hand, wildfires in Canada will continue to affect areas of the US until Tuesday as northwesterly winds push smoke southward.
The NWS indicated that there are air quality advisories from areas in the northern Plains, to the Midwest, the Great Lakes, central Tennessee and North Carolina.
