Extreme heat grips West and East coasts, breaking daily highs
Extreme heat continues to inflict wide swaths of the U.S. This weekend, the brunt of the hot temperatures is falling on the West Coast and parts of the East Coast.
In total, over 132 million people were under some form of a heat warning as of Saturday evening, according to Heat.gov.
"These conditions will be extremely dangerous and potentially deadly if not taken seriously," the National Weather Service said on Saturday.
Human-caused climate change is fueling longer and more intense heat waves, and making dangerously high temperatures more common.
Record heat across the West Coast
The West Coast is covered with heat warnings this weekend.
In northwest and west central Oregon, including Portland, temperatures are forecast to stay between 100 to 105 degrees through Tuesday night. The heat is expected to stay warm overnight, limiting chances to recover from the heat, the NWS said.
Several areas in the Pacific Northwest broke daily highs on Friday, including Portland and Salem in Oregon as well as Vancouver in Washington.
In Salem, the high was 103 degrees — surpassing the previous record of 99 degrees in 1960.
Further south, more heat records are expected to be set on Saturday in Death Valley, Calif., Las Vegas, and Lake Havasu City, Ariz., with temperatures well over 110 degrees.
In Santa Barbara, Calif., extreme heat was coupled with large plumes of smoke from the Lake Fire that began Friday. More than 12,000 acres have been burned as of Saturday afternoon, according to CalFire.
Sweltering temperatures take hold across the East Coast
On the East Coast, heat advisories span from upstate New York all the way down to south Florida this weekend.
Multiple counties in northern New Jersey are expected to see heat indexes reach 104 degrees, according to the NWS. (Heat indexes measure what the weather actually feels like when you account for both the temperature and humidity.)
Meanwhile, major cities like Philadelphia and Trenton, N.J., are under excessive heat warnings through Saturday night, with heat indexes forecast to reach 106 degrees, according to NWS. New York City's heat index could reach 100.
In Maryland, along the Chesapeake Bay, heat indexes are expected to reach 110 degrees on Saturday. Baltimore and Washington D.C., are both under excessive heat warnings, the NWS said.
Across the south, heat indexes reached over 100 degrees on Saturday. Parts of southeast Alabama, Florida's Panhandle and south Georgia are expected to see heat indexes reach 111 degrees.
