The heat wave adds to an already deadly summer of weather. At least four people have died from heat-related causes in Arkansas this season, the state health department reported -- and that was before this week's renewed assault. In Mississippi, at least three people have died this week from heat-related problems. The heat even buckled a portion of Highway 49 near Jackson, Miss., closing the road for two hours while repair crews worked.
Danny Johnston, AP
Children cool off in Little Rock, Ark., on Tuesday, when temperatures climbed past 100 degrees.
In Shelby County, Tenn., at least 10 people have died from heat-related causes this summer, the most recent a 77-year-old man who was found dead Tuesday in his South Memphis home. In the Nashville area, the heat index is expected to reach 110 degrees today.
Kansas City, Mo., health officials reported Tuesday they were investigating a possible fourth recent fatality tied to the heat.
The weather service blamed the current heat wave on a mass of moist, hot air trapped beneath an upper-level ridge of high pressure. And no significant changes are on the horizon, said meteorologist Walt Zaleski in the weather service's Fort Worth, Texas, Southern Regional Headquarters.
"This is August, and typically this is the time of year when we have some of the most intense weather across the South," Zaleski said. "It's not uncommon to have a week or two weeks of high pressure that dominates the South in late July through August."
He said the South baked under a similar -- and deadly -- heat wave in 2007.
Forecasts for the weekend call for possible violent thunderstorms and slightly cooler temperatures in the northern reaches of the current hot zone. However, Zaleski said the intense summer weather is likely to last into the foreseeable future.
He said the South baked under a similar -- and deadly -- heat wave in 2007.
Forecasts for the weekend call for possible violent thunderstorms and slightly cooler temperatures in the northern reaches of the current hot zone. However, Zaleski said the intense summer weather is likely to last into the foreseeable future.
NOAA
The red and orange areas of this map highlight areas experiencing extreme heat.
"It's very difficult in the summer months to get a cold front to come out of Canada to the south" with cooler and drier air, he said.
With the heat index well over 100 degrees across a wide swath of the country, authorities warned against excessive physical exertion outside. Zaleski also warned of the dangers from not drinking enough water, not seeking air conditioning and leaving children and pets in motor vehicles or outside for extended periods of time.
The intense heat forced school officials in some areas to move football team practice times to near dawn. And in Fayette County, Ga., a police K-9 dog died of excessive heat after chasing four burglary suspects through a wooded area, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The South isn't the only region to suffer from excessive and unusual weather. In Arizona, heat warnings remained in force with temperatures expected to reach 113 degrees. And the weather service announced last week that a hailstone that fell in Vivian, S.D., on July 23 had set a record: 8 inches in diameter and weighing nearly 2 pounds.
