At least five deaths are thought to have been caused by the extreme heat wave that is sweeping over parts of the United States, shattering heat records and prompting an advisory on air quality.
On Tuesday, there were still heat advisories in effect for about 130 million people in the West, the East Coast, Southeast Texas, and South Florida.
A health advisory on air quality was issued for the New York City metro area and the Lower Hudson Valley, warning individuals with respiratory conditions like asthma, small children, and the elderly to minimize prolonged outdoor physical activity.
According to a press statement from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the advisory will be in force on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Weather Prediction Center updated its database on Tuesday morning, stating that excessive heat warnings, watches, and advisories are in place for almost the whole states of Oregon, Idaho, Washington, California, western Arizona, and Nevada.
According to the EPA, high temperatures are predicted to persist throughout Southern California, the Great Basin, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northern Rockies.
It’s thought that deaths in Oregon and California have been caused by the extreme heat. According to The Oregonian, four males in the Portland area have passed away since Friday from ailments possibly brought on by the heat.
According to the newspaper, three men were found in Portland: an 84-year-old guy was found in outer Northeast Portland; a 33-year-old man was taken from Multnomah County to a hospital in Portland, where he passed away; and two more men, ages 64 and 75, were found in outer Southeast Portland.
One motorcyclist in Death Valley, California, passed away on Saturday from what appears to have been heat exhaustion, while another was admitted to the hospital. According to KCRA, an NBC station in Sacramento, Kevin Gerhardt, another man from Sacramento, passed away on Sunday as a result of the heat.
By Thursday, the scorching weather is predicted to end in the Pacific Northwest and in the West by the weekend. But throughout the remainder of the week and into the weekend, the East will continue to have high temperatures and high humidity.
When temperatures reached 120 degrees over the weekend in Las Vegas, the heat wave already shattered a record there. More records were broken on Monday, including one in Phoenix, Arizona, when the temperature hit 118 degrees. The National Weather Service in Phoenix stated in a post on X that the previous record was 115 degrees set in 1985.
According to the service, Tuesday will continue to be extremely hot, with afternoon highs between 111 and 121 degrees.
The National Weather Service reported in a Record Event Report that Monday’s high temperature in Portland, Oregon, was 102 degrees, smashing the previous record of 98 degrees set in 1952. In addition, records were broken in Salem and Eugene, Oregon, where temperatures rose to 105 degrees; Hillsboro, Oregon, recorded a high of 102 degrees; and Vancouver, Washington, where the temperature reached 101 degrees.
According to the Seattle Times, Monday afternoon temperatures at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reached 95 degrees, tying a record set in 2010.
The Weather Prediction Center warned that during the following four days, high temperatures will likely be anywhere from 10 to 30 degrees above average, breaking heat records in the process.