West Texas could see scorching temperatures responsible for nearly a dozen deaths return to more normal levels by the weekend, as a heat dome is expected to move east, estimated a National Weather Service meteorologist on Wednesday.
Daily temperatures exceeded 38°C and heat indices reached 46°C, killing nine people in Webb County, which includes the city of Laredo.
Two Florida hikers also died while hiking in extreme heat in Big Bend National Park.
The scorching temperatures were caused by a heat dome that strained Texas’ power grid and led to record heat in parts of the state, meteorologists said.
This dome extends to the east and should be located over the center of the South by the weekend, meteorologist Bryan Jackson revealed.
Temperatures in Texas should then begin to drop, from a high of 38°C to daily highs of around 32°C, Jackson added.
“It’s a relief from the extreme heat,” Jackson said. It’s not really the end of a heat wave, it’s just the end of the extreme part of the heat wave. »
Another heat dome has already formed on the West Coast, and an excessive heat warning is in place across a wide swath of the central part of the state, Jackson said.
“By this weekend, there is a risk of record temperatures exceeding 38°C… near 43°C in the Central Valley of California, warned Mr. Jackson. Then, the more typical midsummer heat could exceed 46°C in the hottest areas of the desert southwest. »