Early-Week Relief From the Heat in the West Will be Short-Lived

The sweltering West will enjoy a brief respite from the record-breaking heat to start the new work week. However, forecasters are warning that Mother Nature is about to crank up the heat once again in this part of the country. Here is a look at what is on tap in the days ahead.

Temperatures Back on the Upswing Out West This Week

The early-season heat wave that gripped the southwestern U.S. all of last week has spread to the Midwest and the Plains in recent days. Daily high records continue to fall as the heat marches to the east. Temperatures have been hovering at levels more typically seen in late May or early June throughout much of the western half of the nation.

It is too time-consuming to list all of the cities that have tied or broken daily records for multiple consecutive days. Some of the largest urban areas that have seen records fall include San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and El Paso.  Dozens of all-time March temperature records have also fallen in the Southwest, including a sizzling 108-degree reading in Palm Springs, California, and a toasty 105 degrees in Phoenix.

San Francisco hit six straight days with highs in the 80s during this heat wave. Five of those days were daily record highs. This is significant as this metro area generally sees temperate readings all year due to its proximity to the water.

The heat wave has presented a number of dangers from the Southwest and into the Plains states. The unseasonably warm high temperatures paired with windy conditions kept local officials from eastern Arizona to the east into Texas and to the north into Kansas on alert for wildfires.

Residents of the Southwest will see a short dip in the temperatures on Monday before the heat begins to build again over the region. A slight weakening of the zone of high pressure anchored over the West will deliver a bit of relief from the summerlike weather. While the mercury will come down on Monday, temperatures will still trend 10 to 20 degrees above the norm for most areas of the Southwest.

The temperatures will be back on the upswing on Tuesday and Wednesday as the area of high pressure strengthens. Daytime highs will reach as much as 30 degrees over the historical average in the Southwest, good enough to ignite another stretch of record-breaking days. Major urban areas, including Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Denver, are all expected to break daily records on Tuesday and Wednesday.