Published
2 months agoon
Attention, Valley residents. There’s a cooldown in our future.
After a day or two more of triple-digit afternoon highs, the 90s will provide welcome relief from a long run of stifling heat.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for highs between 99 and 92 Monday through Thursday. Meaning: you can barbecue out back and enjoy it.
In addition, the nightly lows will drop into the low 70s and even into the low 60s over the next seven days.
Fresno is on a run of 16 consecutive days with triple-digit temperatures. The high during that time was 109 degrees on July 17.
NWS notes that high pressure will rebuild over the Valley late next week, bringing an uptick in temperatures.
And, UCLA meteorologist Daniel Swain warns that the desert southwest of the United States, along with southern and interior California could see another intense heatwave.
Growing signs of yet another very intense #heatwave across Desert Southwest & parts of interior/southern CA in ~10 days. ECMWF & GFS ensembles are already suggesting high likelihood of breaking Aug monthly 500mb GPH records (i.e., record “ridge strength”). #AZwx #NMwx #CAwx pic.twitter.com/WQN7269jZx
— Dr. Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) July 28, 2023
Dangerous heat is forecast to engulf much of the eastern half of the U.S. beginning today as extreme temperatures spread from the Midwest into the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, where some residents will see their hottest temperatures of the year.
Nearly 200 million people, or 60% of the U.S. population, are under a heat advisory or flood warning or watch and have been since Thursday, NWS says.
The prediction for continued excessive heat comes as the World Meteorological Organization and the European Union declared July 2023 the hottest month on record this week.
Human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, scientists say.
(Associated Press contributed to this article.)
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email