Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 23
Following a bout of extreme pre-summer heat in Texas and Florida, California and Arizona are next in line for temperature spikes.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a heat wave throughout much of the Southwest and parts of California from Tuesday through Thursday as a ridge of high pressure centers over the region.
The forecast suggests temperatures may climb to 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix and could reach 108 in California’s Central Valley.
“It’s coming early,” said Eric Kurth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, California. “Heat is here, and we need to prepare.”
By Wednesday, most Southwest communities will have moderate, major or extreme heat risks, according to a new map of heat risk from the National Weather Service.
High temperatures could also raise fire risk. Already, a grass fire took off over the weekend near the Central Valley community of Tracy, California, about 65 miles east of San Francisco. The blaze, dubbed the Corral Fire, quickly grew to more than 14,000 acres, closed highly used Interstate 580 and prompted evacuations.
By Monday morning, firefighters had developed a containment line around three-quarters of the fire.
He noted that the heat wave beginning this week wouldn’t be uncommon for August in central California, but he said its early nature could make it more significant because “people aren’t adjusted to the heat.”
Source: NBC News
