HOUSTON (AP) — Sweltering heat more commonly seen in the throes of summer than in the spring was making an unwelcome visit this week to a large portion of the U.S. – from the Dakotas to Texas and other parts of the South – and putting millions of Americans on alert for potentially dangerous temperatures.
In Austin, forecasters warned that the early heat wave could break a century-old record for May of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
“Definitely more like August this week than May,” said Cameron Self, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in the Houston and Galveston area.
It is not unusual to have temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) in May in Houston and other parts of Texas.
“But getting long stretches of temperatures well in the 90s that usually holds off till June,” Self said.
This week’s extreme heat was predicted to have some Texas cities experiencing the longest string of triple-digit days they have ever had before in June, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist.
Several cities around North Dakota set record high temperatures in recent days, with some shattering highs that stood for well over 100 years.
While cooler air is expected to provide some relief for the northern part of the country, Texas and states in the southeastern part of the U.S. were likely to suffer through this heat for at least the next week or so.
What’s causing the unseasonably high temperatures?
A very strong ridge of high pressure over the south-central United States that is centered over the Gulf of Mexico is responsible for the extreme heat. For the next six to 10 days, much of south central and the southeastern United States will be warmer than normal, with the highest temperatures occurring over parts of Texas and Florida, Self said.
The same weather system heating up Texas and other southern states was also the same one that helped spike temperatures in the Dakotas, Minnesota and parts of the Midwest, Nielsen-Gammon said.
Heat in the Dakotas, Minnesota breaks records, boosts wildfire conditions
In the last few days, the Dakotas, Minnesota and southern parts of Canada have seen unusually warm temperatures for this time of year, as much as 30 degrees above normal, said Mindy Beerends, meteorologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
“This is very early for this type of heat,” she said.
Fargo on Sunday hit 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), surpassing the previous high of 93 degrees Fahrenheit (33.89 degrees Celsius) set in 1887. Bismarck on Monday reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.11 degrees Celsius), breaking the record of 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33.33 degrees Celsius) set in 1880.
The unseasonably high temperatures, along with very low humidity and spreading drought conditions have created unusually dangerous fire conditions in northern Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials said at a briefing Tuesday.
Weather conditions were expected to improve Thursday when rain and cooler temperatures should give firefighters a break, the officials said.
“But this is going to be an ongoing battle, probably throughout most of the summer,” Walz said.
Minnesota usually experiences a little over 1,100 wildfires covering about 12,000 acres per year but the state is already up to 970, covering more than 37,000 acres, including over 80 since Sunday, the officials said.
Fires have been explosive in nature due to the dry conditions, said Brian Galvin, fire chief of the Goodrich Rural Fire Department in central North Dakota. About 50 to 60 firefighters, farmers and other people responded on Saturday to a fast-moving fire near Lincoln Valley that burned 200 acres.
Parts of Texas could see triple digit temperature for days
Areas like Houston that are closer to the Gulf of Mexico could have their temperatures “modified somewhat” because water temperatures are still cool enough, but parts of Texas farther west of the Gulf are going to see temperatures well over 100 degrees, Self said.
In San Antonio, the National Weather Service said high temperatures were expected to rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) through the weekend.
The Texas Department of Public Safety asked residents to follow various safety tips, including staying hydrated and limiting outdoor activities, to stay safe.
Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The order only carries authority within the U.S. Other countries and international institutions continue to use the name the Gulf of Mexico.
Hotter temperatures earlier in the year is the “new normal”
Sylvia Dee, an assistant professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Rice University in Houston, said with temperature records being broken “somewhere every month and every year,” heat waves like the one impacting Texas and other parts of the country should not be seen as out of the ordinary.
Climate change is likely expanding the summer season, meaning that hotter temperatures will start earlier and end later, Dee said.
“I think that this is our new normal, for sure. I think we should be prepared as Texans, but also across the country, for these changes – higher temperatures, more persistent heat events,” Dee said.
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Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
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