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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 13 augusT 2019

Parts of South and

Midwest grapple with

dangerous heat wave

Associated Press "You are more likely to de-
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — velop a heat illness quick-
Forecasters are warning er in this type of weather,
about days of scorching, when it's really humid and
dangerous heat gripping hot," said Gary Chatelain,
a wide swath of the U.S. a National Weather Ser-
South and Midwest, where vice meteorologist based
the heat index on Monday in Shreveport, Louisiana,
eclipsed 120 degrees (48.9 where a wet summer con-
Celsius) in one town and tributed to high humidity.
climbed nearly that high in More of the same is in store
others. for Tuesday, when heat
With temperatures around and humidity will again
100 degrees (37 Celsius) make for dangerous heat
at midday and "feels like" indexes over a wide area.
temperatures soaring even However, an approach-
higher, parts of 13 states ing cool front should help
were under heat advisories, ease the intense heat by
from Texas, Louisiana and Wednesday in some areas,
Florida in the South to Mis- Chatelain said.
souri and Illinois in the Mid- "If you're going out in the
west, the National Weather summer, prepare for the
Service reported. worst," he said.
"It feels like hell is what In the Mississippi Delta,
it feels like," said Junae farmers had no choice but
Brooks, who runs Junae's to work in the fields Mon-
Grocery in Holly Bluff, Mis- day as they scrambled
sissippi. Around her, many to clear debris and make
of her customers kept cool repairs after floodwaters
with wet rags around their inundated the region in re-
necks or by wearing straw cent months, Brooks said.
hats. Farmers just now able to
Some of the most oppres- reach their land.
sive conditions were in Loui- "The mosquitoes the gnats,
siana, Arkansas, Mississippi the spiders, the snakes — Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) drinks water during NFL football practice at Saint
and Oklahoma. all of them — have been Thomas Sports Park, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn.
The heat index soared to way worse this year," Brooks Associated Press
121 degrees (49.4 Celsius) said.
by late afternoon in Clarks- In Alabama and Tennes- service's Huntsville office sippi; and Tallahassee, Flor- average year. The number
dale, Mississippi; and to 119 see, high school football said Monday they issued ida experience less than a of days would increase to
degrees (48.3 Celsius) in coaches were adjusting the first "excessive heat week's worth of days each 57 in Baton Rouge; 52 in
West Memphis, Arkansas, practice schedules Mon- warning" for the area in year when the heat index is Jackson; and 50 in Talla-
the weather service report- day and Tuesday, with more than seven years. over 105 degrees (41 Cel- hassee.
ed. Similar readings were some moving the workouts Such a warning is more seri- sius). Southern states would feel
expected in eastern Okla- indoors and others con- ous than a heat advisory. If no action is taken to stop the brunt of increasingly
homa. ducting training in the early The region hardest-hit by climate change, the num- dangerous heat in coming
In Alabama, the tempera- morning or evening, The the heat wave could ex- ber of days when it's that years, said Astrid Caldas,
ture hit 100 degrees with a Tennessean reported . perience many more days hot will soar in those cities one of the study's authors.
heat index of 106 degrees Cooling stations were open each year when the heat and others, according to a "Texas and Florida stand
by mid-afternoon in Bir- in several cities, including index soars as the effects of recent study by the Union out, but also of course
mingham, the state's larg- Tulsa, Memphis, and Little climate change increase, of Concerned Scientists, Louisiana, and Mississippi
est city. Rock, Arkansas, officials scientists say. "Killer Heat in the United and the whole area all the
Heat exhaustion and heat said. Historically, cities such as States ." By midcentury, way up to North Carolina,"
stroke were the leading In northern Alabama, fore- Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, Austin would see 59 days said Caldas, a climate
threats. casters with the weather Louisiana; Jackson, Missis- of such extreme heat in an scientist.q