An intense and nearly historic weather pattern is cooking much of America under a dangerous heat dome this week, with triple-digit temperatures in places that haven't been this hot in more than a decade. The heat wave is especially threatening because it's hitting cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia early in the summer when people haven't gotten their bodies adapted to the broiling conditions, several meteorologists said, per the AP. The dome of high pressure that's parking over the eastern US is trapping hot air from the Southwest that already made an uncomfortable stop in the Midwest.
A key measurement of the strength of the high pressure broke a record Monday and was the third-highest reading for any date, making for a "near historic" heat wave, said private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist. The worst of the heat is likely to peak for Northeastern cities on Tuesday, forecasters said. "Like an air fryer, it's going to be hot," said Maue. "This is a three-day stretch of dangerous heat that will test the mettle of city dwellers who are most vulnerable to oppressive heat waves."
A heat dome occurs when a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere acts as a reservoir, trapping heat and humidity. A heat wave is the persistence of heat, usually three days or more, with unusually hot temperatures. Nearly three-quarters of the country's population was expected to swelter with 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher temperatures on Monday, and 33 million people, almost 10% of the country, will feel blistering 100-degree heat on Tuesday, Maue said. The government's heat health website showed the highest level of heat risk in swaths from Chicago to Pittsburgh and North Carolina to New York. New York reportedly hasn't seen 100 degrees since 2011 and Philadelphia since 2012. (More extreme heat stories.)
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