Millions of Americans can expect a new heatwave to bring high temperatures in the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.
- The heatwave is expected to spread across much of the country over the next week.
- Temperatures will rise 5 to 10 degrees higher than normal.
- Along with humidity, parts of the country will see temperatures above 100 degrees.
Why are temperatures rising?
Capitol Weather Gang meteorologist Mike Cappucci that the high temperatures are a result of another “heat dome.”
Per Axios, a “heat dome” happens when high pressure locks hot temperatures into a certain location. Such a heat dome will hit the West and the Central Plains over the next week or so.
- “That may not sound like a major event, but late July is just past what is typically the hottest time of the year, which means temperatures will easily reach the triple digits from portions of the Pacific Northwest to the Plains, parts of the Midwest and Eastern U.S. (with the exception of the Northeast),” according to Axios.
Is this normal?
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No. Experts told The Guardian that the rising temperatures were surprising because they were happening so quickly.
- “We certainly expected these type of temperatures as global warming continues but I don’t think anyone anticipated they would be so hot right now. I don’t think we could’ve expected so many heatwaves in the same general region in one summer,” Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told The Guardian.