This weekend is expected to be a hot one with experts advising to take precautions.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reports a heat dome is causing temperatures to soar in Atlanta and Gainesville and elsewhere, with highs reaching the mid-90s and heat indices near 100 degrees and continuing the early part of the coming week.
By 8:30 Saturday morning, the temperature in Gainesville had already reached 76 with a forecast high of 92. And things don’t look much different in the coming week, according to the NWS: 94 Sunday and Monday, 96 Tuesday, 93 Wednesday, 91 Thursday, and 90 on Friday. And there’s little prospect for rain during the week.
What’s the difference between a heat wave and a heat dome? You’ll find the answer at msn.com: What’s a heat dome? Here’s why so much of the US is broiling this week (msn.com)
And Georgia is not the only place that is baking.
A relentless heat wave continues to bake most of the country, with numerous areas expected to see record-breaking temperatures.
This month’s sizzling daytime temperatures were 35 times more likely and 2.5 degrees F hotter (1.4 degrees C) because of the warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas — in other words, human-caused climate change. That is according to World Weather Attribution, a collection of scientists that run rapid and non-peer reviewed climate attribution studies.
The U.S. last year experienced the most heat waves since 1936, experts said. An Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data found that the excessive heat contributed to more than 2,300 U.S. deaths, the highest number in 45 years of records.
(SRN News and the Georgia News Network contributed to this story.)