And millions of Americans are feeling the heat this week
with a dangerous heat wave spreading across the south and
central us. Nearly 110 million people are under heat
alerts in 28 states, from California to New England
. While 60 million people will likely see temperatures soar
past 100째 joining me now to help us sweat out
this hot weather is Jeff cornish, accuweather, meteorologist
and Jeff it's summer. So some heat is expected
. Let's be real. But how extreme is this
current weather event? And what is causing all this
? Well, again, we're dealing with a persistent
heatwave in parts of the southern plains where some in
places like abilene Texas has had more than 50 days
with 100 degree heat so far this year and that's
well above average. Now, when we take a
look at the expansion of the heat into the Northeast
, there are areas where we've had a pretty average
summer so far. In the Northeast where in Washington
, D. C. For example, we are
into our first heat wave of the year, specifically
at Reagan National Airport. Sometimes in the Northeast we
look at uh saying 90 degrees as the benchmark three
days in a row where more is the definition of
a heat wave. In the Northeast. Well,
we're gonna string together several days in a row of
90 degree plus heat. And in places like new
york city and philadelphia, this may become the hottest
that we've seen in 5 to 10 years, philadelphia
has not seen 100 degrees since just exactly about 10
years ago. In july of 2012 and we have
a shot at hitting 100 philadelphia on sunday. And
in new york city we're gonna string together about 5
to 7 days of 90 degree plus heat here.
And we haven't seen that in about 9 to 10
years. So this is gonna be uh something we
haven't seen for a bit in the Northeast when it
comes to the prolonged nature of the heat for I
95. So you mentioned Abilene, but what part
of the U. S. Is seeing the most
dangerous heat conditions? Well, I guess you could
answer that in a few different ways. The persistent
heat has been in the southern Plains. They've seen
the most extreme and persistent heat for the past month
and a half or so. But texas is pretty
well prepared for heat. And that's something that's not
too uncommon in some of these areas that do see
on average maybe 10, 15, 20 days of
100 degree heat uh in a typical year. So
it'll become a bit of a stress for some in
the Northeast who haven't experienced mid to upper nineties yet
with actually the real feel temperatures of 105 plus for
some spots. So that's where we can get into
trouble if we're not prepared for. Sometimes our bodies
in in the southern plains may acclimate to this over
the course of the summer, a bit more than
some in the Northeast. So things like heat,
stress, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can become big
concerns. Yeah, I mean people are getting hospitalized
and people are losing their lives. So I need
to ask, what are some things that people should
not be doing in this extreme heat? Well,
it's good to avoid strenuous activity outside during the hottest
part of the day. Late morning, through mid
afternoon. Take it easy if you can put off
the yard work until maybe later in the evening or
earlier in the morning, that's a good option.
If you're responsible for the well being of maybe younger
people, maybe you're a football coach getting ready for
the upcoming season. People are a lot more sensitive
to this kind of thing when their decision making comes
into factor now compared to years ago, because we
do see people get into trouble. Sometimes healthy people
can succumb to the heat in unexpected ways when you're
doing too much during the hottest part of the day
if you don't have air conditioning. And this is
something that the folks in the United Kingdom had to
deal with on monday and Tuesday when they broke their
national record. If you don't have a C and
you have to contend with some big time heat.
Maybe some parts of the interior Northeast. Uh,
well, you're gonna probably want to keep the windows
shut and even draw the blinds during the day and
open up the windows at night to allow some of
that heat uh to escape and cooler air to come
in. And if you have a house fan,
you can turn that on and suck some of that
heat out of the house and try to use fans
in an intentional way to work with one another to
try to actually kind of produce some streamlines of cooler
air into the house at night. So what are
some signs that perhaps your body is having a negative
reaction to all this heat? Like what are some
signs of heat stroke and all that stuff? Yeah
, well, heat stroke is a serious problem.
If you suspect someone around you has heatstroke, that's
the time to call 911. Loss of consciousness is
an obvious sign that somebody's life could be in danger
. But nausea and vomiting and altered mental status,
if somebody begins to act or behave very differently.
Maybe if you notice yourself feeling very different than you
ever have before, flushed skin, rapid breathing.
If your heart rate increases, that's a sign of
heatstroke. And another thing is some of us probably
never experienced because hopefully you'll never get heat stroke.
If you have hot dry skin and you're not sweating
, that could be a big big warning sign.
And those are things to keep in mind. And
again, call 911, you don't want to mess
around with heat stroke because if your internal temperature reaches
around 104째, a lot of the medical experts say that's
when you're, the system that regulates your internal temperature
, can't keep up with things. And if if
your internal temperature rises to around 107, that's when
cell damage can occur and death can be imminent.
So Jeff, I have to ask, how long
do you think this heat wave will last in the
next week? It will be with us right through
the weekend and into next week, uh early to
mid week will begin to see some improvements. So
by mid week will begin to see some improvements in
the Northeast. But until then, these weekend fronts
that are sparking some strong storms, We've seen severe
weather in northern Ohio and eastern michigan today. These
fronts Are not bringing the change to the I-95.
They are bringing some temporary cool downs to the interior
though. Alright, yeah, it is a scorcher
out there. I rode my bike to the train
station today. The biggest mistake of my life,
Jeff cornish accuweather meteorologist, Jeff, thank you so
much for bringing that down for us.