Part of Why Texas Is So Hot: a Persistent 'Death Ridge'

This summer has already brought extreme temps to Tokyo, Western Europe, and the UK, and now it's the United States' turn in the barrel. While Americans from coast to coast are suffering through heat waves at the moment, AccuWeather reports it's particularly bad in the south-central part of the country, which includes Oklahoma and the northern part of Texas. In perhaps the most stark example of the brutal heat, the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday. That's just 5 degrees below what California's Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, registered that same day.

Just north of Wichita Falls, Oklahoma City hit 110 degrees on Tuesday, surpassing the 109-degree daily high record set all the way back in 1936 and matching its all-time high temp for July, reports the National Weather Service. Several spots in Kansas, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Missouri also saw the mercury exceed 100 degrees. Meteorologist Matt Lanza tells the Houston Chronicle that a high-pressure "death ridge" that bakes everything underneath it has remained rigidly entrenched in the upper atmosphere since May, bringing punishing heat to the southern Plains, especially Texas.

Adding to the issue is that much of this area is also plagued by serious drought, per the US Drought Monitor. And Lanza says the only thing that might jolt the atmosphere and bring some relief is a big weather event in the other direction, such as a tropical storm or hurricane. "Basically, what we're looking for is something, anything significant, which unfortunately usually means something bad for someone," he tells the Chronicle.

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Meanwhile, the rest of the US is having its own heat issues, per the Washington Post, which notes that 28 states have issued heat advisories and excessive-heat warnings to more than 105 million people in the central US and Northeast. The National Weather Service, which reports that these advisories and warnings stretch from California to New Hampshire, reminds people that such extreme heat could spur an uptick in heat-related illnesses. Toward that end, the agency offers tips on how to combat the severe weather. (President Biden says climate change "is an emergency.")