September debuts with potentially record heat for Southwest, West Coast
September is keeping summer going strong with heat warnings expected to cover 26 million people, mostly in the Southwest, by Wednesday.
September is keeping summer going strong with heat warnings expected to cover 26 million people, mostly in the Southwest, by Wednesday.
Temperatures in cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix could be 10 to 20 degrees above normal starting Tuesday and peaking Thursday, according to federal and NBC News forecasters.
A mass of warm air pushing down on the Earth's surface, known as an upper-level ridge, is strengthening over the Southwest and blocking cool air from the Pacific Ocean, setting up conditions for dangerous heat from California's Central Valley east of San Francisco to the U.S.-Mexico border at Arizona.
"Above average temperatures are forecast to span much of the West Coast, including the potential for a few daily records," the National Weather Service said Sunday in a special message about the heat wave.
The weather service office for Los Angeles said Monday that high temperatures of 98 to 113 degrees are possible starting Wednesday, with the hottest communities likely to be in the western San Fernando Valley.
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