Christopher CannUSA TODAY
Vast swaths of the country were under weather advisories on Thursday as a relentless heat wave continues to scorch the West, oppressive heat lingers over southeast Texas where over a million people are without power, and remnants of Hurricane Beryl drench the Northeast in heavy rain after spinning up multiple tornadoes in western New York.
As of Thursday morning, more than 63 million Americans were under active National Weather Service extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings. The heat wave has broken dozens of daily temperature records in recent days and will continue to do so this week, according to the National Weather Service.
In Las Vegas on Wednesday, the city experienced its fifth day of 115 degree heat, a new all-time record. On the same day, a temperature gauge at Harry Reid International Airport was measured at 118 degrees, surpassing the previous daily record set in 2021.
In Needles, California, and Kingman, Arizona, Wednesday's afternoon highs tied previous record temperatures at 122 and 111 degrees, respectively. Several cities in Oregon reached new record highs this week, including Salem and Portland. At least 30 deaths across the West this month are suspected to be related to the extreme heat plaguing the region, according to state officials and media reports.
"We usually see this kind of heat more towards the end of summer," said Denise Davies, a mom of three in Los Alamos, California, just west of where the a massive wildfire has ripped across over 30,000 acres of land.
In the Northeast, the searing heat that pushed "feels like temperatures" into the triple digits across Washington D.C. and other parts of the mid-Atlantic diminished on Thursday, though dangerous heat is projected to reemerge over the region this weekend and next week.
Remnants of Hurricane Beryl, meanwhile, continue to dump heavy rain over the East, triggering flood warnings from coastal South Carolina to New England as residents in western New York clean up the damage from tornadoes that damaged buildings, downed power lines and knocked over trees. In Vermont, floodwaters washed away a large portion of a two-lane road stretching over a river raging below, and police said Thursday many roads across the state were closed due to flooding.
Across southeast Texas, where the Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm on Monday, over a million people were still without power as a third day of excessive heat was projected to again drive temperatures into the 90s and heat index levels into triple digits.
Heat stokes wildfires across California
Searing heat across California is contributing to large blazes that have triggering thousands of evacuations across the state as officials warn of an active wildfire season.
In Santa Barbara County, the so-called Lake Fire, has prompted local officials to issue evacuation orders and warnings, which have impacted just over 2,100 people, Cal Fire said. At least six structures have been damaged in the fire and four people have been injured as of Thursday afternoon, according to the state agency. Sixteen percent of the fire has been contained.
Davies, who has lived in the area for 25 years, said people in Los Alamos noticed it was "a little bit drier" this year up in the hills where the fire is burning.
“Part of our weather is because of the fire – we’re getting a little heat from the fire – it’s stuffy and a little uncomfortable," Davies, 49, told USA TODAY Thursday. "We’re all on watch right now to see what the wind does and where this fire moves."
To the north, the Shelly Fire has burned just over 9,000 acres of land, threatening private timberlands and nearby communities in and around the Marble Mountains, according to Cal Fire. The blaze started on July 3 and has not been contained as 3,034 emergency personnel with dozens of helicopters, fire engines and bulldozers try to tamp down the flames.
"California’s peak wildfire season is here & it’s significantly more active than the last 2 years," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday in a statement on X.
Incessant heat linked to at least 30 deaths across the West Coast
Across the West, heat has been named as the suspected culprit in connection with at least 30 deaths this month. Heat death totals, which are typically underreported, are expected to rise as a heat wave continues to surge temperatures to record breaking levels.
In California's Santa Clara County, the medical examiner's office is investigating at least 18 suspected heat-related deaths this month, according to KGO-TV. In Death Valley National Park, a group ofmotorcyclistsfaced scorching heatSaturday as temperatures soared to 128 degrees, leaving one dead and another in a hospital with "severe heat illness." In San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan confirmed an unhoused person died outside from the blistering heat last Tuesday when the cityfirst reached triple-digit temperatures.
This month at least 10 people died of suspected heat-related illnesses across Oregon, according to the state's medical examiner's office, including at least four suspected deaths in Multnomah County, which encompasses Portland.
In western Arizona, a 4-month-old toddler died from heat exposure following a boat trip on Friday, when the day's highest temperature reached 120 degrees, multiple outlets reported.
Officials in Texas' Matagorda County, which is southwest of Houston along the Gulf Coast, said on Wednesday that one person died of heat-related illness this week.
Tornadoes cause damage in western N.Y., Syracuse University evacuated
Remnants of Hurricane Beryl sweeping over the Northeast brought powerful thunderstorms to parts of New York State, triggering the evacuation of Syracuse University as officials issued tornado warnings and at least three twisters touched down.
The weather service said the tornadoes moved across the towns of Arkwright, Eden, Darien and Alexander. The largest twister touched down in Arkwright and had peak winds of 110 mph.
The dangerous weather put the town of Eden, in Western New York, under a state of emergency andcanceled or postponed several eventsin the Rochester area.
Eden saw road closures anda state of emergencyas visuals emerged on social media of scattered trees, power lines and roofing material. Several videos of the tornado were posted to X, showing mangled power lines, uprooted trees and damaged buildings.
In Erie County, which encompasses Buffalo, power to nearly 10,000 homes and businesses was knocked out.
Oppressive heat lingers over Texas as outages abound
Over 1 million people in southeast Texas were in store for another day of miserable heat as forecasters say "feels like temperatures" will reach 106 degrees on Thursday.
"Residents without power should be mindful of the heat and take precautions now," the weather service said.
More than 1.3 million homes and businesses remain without power across southeast Texas, according to PowerOutage.us. CenterPoint Energy, the main utility company in Houston and its surrounding areas, reported over 1 million outages as of Thursday morning, down from its peak of 2.26 million on Monday.
This week, a large graffiti display under a major highway in Houston took aim at the utility company, which the artists dubbed, "CenterPointless," spelled with dollar signs as the last two letters. One of the city's most prolific street artist's name appears above the design, the Houston Chronicle reported.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the company said it had restored power to over 900,000 customers experiencing outages.
“We take our responsibility of serving our customers and working as safely and as quickly as possible to restore service very seriously," Lynnae Wilson, the senior vice president, said in a statement. “At the same time, we fully understand our customers are hot and growing more impatient with their outages."
Contributing: Claire Thornton and Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; Emily Barnes, Democrat and Chronicle
