The first death caused by the ongoing “heat dome,” which is bringing triple-digit temperatures to several parts of the US, was confirmed by Texas officials.
After the heat dome descended over the American southwest, nearly one-fourth of the US population is under excessive heat advisories.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), heat domes develop in the US when high atmospheric pressure and La Nia-related warm sea surface temperatures mix.
Heat domes typically cause extreme temperatures on the west coast, then expand as winds move hot air east and north across the country.
The current heat dome enveloping the southwest is expected to expand this week as far east as North Carolina.
Forecasters at the Weather Channel are predicting temperatures in some major cities to rise over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, including Miami, New Orleans, and Atlanta.
Little Rock, Arkansas is expected to see temperatures as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Over the weekend, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico fared the worst in the brutal heat wave.
In Texas, authorities confirmed the first death related to the ongoing heat wave.
Victor Ramos, a 67-year-old resident of Houston, was killed on June 24. On Friday, a medical examiner determined the man died from accidental hyperthermia.
Family members said the air conditioning in Ramos’s home was broken, and he couldn’t afford to fix it.
‘He had told me during the day that he wasn’t feeling too good, he was a little bit tired,’ Ramos’s sister Karla told local station KHOU. ‘I went to check on him by nine in the morning, and I found him unresponsive.’
Temperatures in Houston rose to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit on June 24, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Many cities across the southwest saw temperatures meeting or coming close to their highest temperatures on record.
Las Vegas, Nevada came within one degree of breaking its record high temperature when it reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday.
Reno, Nevada matched its highest temperature ever recorded, when it hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
Death Valley, already considered one of the hottest locations on Earth, also came close to breaking its record high temperature on Sunday after thermometers hit 128 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Mojave Desert valley’s highest recorded temperature was 134 degrees Fahrenheit.