Temperatures could crest 100F (38C) in many regions after breaking records and sparking dozens of wildfires
A long-running heatwave that has already broken records, sparked dozens of wildfires and left about 130 million people under a high temperature threat is about to intensify enough that the National Weather Service has deemed it “potentially historic”.
The NWS on Saturday reported some type of extreme heat or advisory for 134 million people across the nation – mostly in western states where the triple-digit heat, with temperatures 15 to 30 degrees fahrenheit higher than average, is expected to last into next week.
Oppressive heat and humidity could team up to spike temperatures above 100F (about 38C) in parts of the Pacific north-west, the mid-Atlantic and the north-east, said Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist with the NWS.
In Oregon, records could be broken in cities including Eugene, Portland and Salem, Asherman said. Dozens of other records throughout the US could fall, Asherman said, causing millions to seek relief from the blanket of heat in cooling centers from Bullhead City, Arizona, to Norfolk, Virginia.
“Certainly a pretty anomalous event that we’re expecting here, which looks like it will continue through at least midweek,” Asherman said.
At the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, music fans dealt with heat on Friday by drinking cold water, seeking refuge in the shade or freshening up under water misters.
Angela Quiroz, 31, kept her scarf and hat wet and applied sunscreen at she protected herself from the heat at the music festival.
“Definitely a difference between the shade and the sun,” Quiroz said.
