115 Degrees Fahrenheit

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/briefing/weather-heat-temperatures.html

Version 0 of 1.

Today, New Orleans will reach 113 degrees in the heat index. Houston will reach 111. Mobile, Ala., and Jackson, Miss., will also surpass 110. And those are only a few of the places that will experience dangerous heat this week.

Summer technically just began, and parts of the U.S. are already seeing the unusual heat that experts warned about and that is becoming more common as a result of climate change. About 45 million people — or 14 percent of the U.S. population — live in areas that are expected to reach dangerous temperatures in the coming days.

Today and tomorrow, the heat will be concentrated in Texas, Louisiana and parts of the South. By the end of the week, it is expected to spread in the South and to the West, as these maps show:

The heat index measures not just temperature, but how hot it really feels outside by taking into account humidity as well. (Heat index forecasts are typically accurate for the next day, but become less reliable as they project further into the future.) If you’re in any of these major cities, here’s what you can expect:

In Houston, the index is forecast to peak at 111 degrees this week before falling to 106 by Sunday.

In New Orleans, the heat index will hit 111 degrees today, climb to 115 by Thursday and remain above 110 for the week.

Jacksonville, Fla., will peak at 106 degrees today on the index and gradually climb until it hits 109 this weekend.

In Bakersfield, Calif., the heat index will climb above 100 on Friday.

When the index measures anywhere from 103 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, experts label it as dangerous heat. Such temperatures carry a higher risk for cramps and exhaustion as well as heat stroke, particularly after exercise or long stretches in the sun.

The heat has already resulted in tragedies. On Saturday, a 14-year-old hiker fell ill and died at Big Bend National Park in Texas as temperatures reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit. His 31-year-old stepfather crashed his car and died while seeking help.

The two may not have been the only heat-related deaths in Texas last week, my colleagues Jacey Fortin and Mary Beth Gahan reported. In Dallas, a postal worker collapsed and died while on his route during an excessive heat warning. Officials are investigating whether the heat was a cause.

This week’s heat is likely just the beginning. Meteorologists predicted a hotter-than-normal summer this year, particularly in the West, Southwest, South, and Northeast. El Niño, a Pacific weather pattern, could send global temperatures even higher.

Climate change is one reason for the rising heat. Summer temperatures have steadily increased over the past three decades. A warming climate will push those temperatures higher, resulting in more and worse heat waves, wildfires and other extreme weather.

It is too late to reverse those trends for the current and next few summers, but you can take steps to protect yourself. For one, watch for dangerous heat in your area and respond accordingly: Stay inside, drink enough water and avoid direct sunlight or outdoor exercise.

Related: Using The Times’s heat tracker, you can look up the heat index in your area over the coming week to help reduce your own risk.

Concho Valley in West Texas was hotter than Death Valley at the weekend.

Storms brought baseball-sized hail and tornadoes to the Midwest and South over the weekend.

The storms have reached the East Coast. Thousands of flights are canceled or delayed, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Intensifying rain is creating flood risks in parts of the U.S. where drainage systems aren’t built to cope.

Wirecutter has advice for keeping your kitchen cool. (One tip: Let the slow cooker do the work.)

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group, began his revolt over the weekend in a desperate attempt to regain power after the Kremlin sidelined him.

In his first remarks since backing down, he claimed he wasn’t trying to overthrow Vladimir Putin, only the military leadership in Moscow.

Prigozhin made his statement over social media. His location remains unknown.

Putin, visibly angry, took credit for ending the crisis and claimed Russians rallied around his leadership. Watch his speech.

The crisis suggests Putin’s hold over the elite that keeps him in power is under stress.

President Biden said the U.S. and its allies had “nothing to do with” the revolt.

Ukrainian troops have tried to push ahead in the counteroffensive with the Kremlin distracted. But Russian land mines stand in their way.

In an audio recording from 2021, Donald Trump is heard discussing a classified document related to Iran. Listen to the recording.

“This is secret information”: The audio contradicts his claim that he only shared news clippings.

A.I. is transforming health care, and it is starting by helping doctors eliminate hours of paperwork.

Public schools in Newark, N.J., are testing A.I. tutoring bots.

Despite an international pledge to end deforestation, the planet is still rapidly losing tropical forests.

The shooter who killed five people at Club Q, an L.G.B.T.Q. bar in Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty. They will spend life in prison.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in a home near campus.

Jesse Watters will fill Tucker Carlson’s old 8 p.m. time slot on Fox News.

Congestion pricing in New York City cleared its final federal hurdle. Charges for drivers entering Midtown Manhattan could begin next year.

Americans are starting to think about China as they once did about the Soviet Union. That could make it harder to mend ties.

L.G.B.T.Q. Americans should embrace their queerness rather than seek to mainstream their identities, Richard Morgan argues.

Public health work needs investment even when there isn’t an emergency, Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C.’s outgoing director, writes.

Here are columns by Maureen Dowd on Turner Classic Movies and Jamelle Bouie on Samuel Alito.

Green lights: Set along the track, they’re helping runners break world records.

Crumbling church: Congregants want it torn down. But its celebrity neighbors are trying to save it.

Harvard scholar: She studies honesty, but is accused of fabrication.

Scavenger hunt: The owners of a store that specializes in midcentury furniture find most pieces by going door to door.

Health: Why do you sometimes wake up just before your alarm?

Lives Lived: The lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles grew from incremental insights over decades. But John Goodenough made one of the crucial breakthroughs. He died at 100.

L.S.U.’s stunning reversal: A day after losing by 20 runs, L.S.U. won its seventh college baseball national championship in an 18-4 romp, The Athletic reports.

Golf merger: The Times obtained a document revealing details about the PGA Tour’s agreement with LIV. It includes only a handful of binding commitments.

A curious departure: Jordy Bahl was a two-time champion at Oklahoma. The Athletic asks: Why did she leave it all behind?

Role change: Belgium was out of hurdlers, so a shot-putter agreed to sprint. She spoke to The Times about the race.

Small-town madness: Seventy-five years ago, The New Yorker set off a literary firestorm when it published Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.” Readers flooded the magazine with angry letters, calling the story “outrageous,” “gruesome” and “utterly pointless,” writes Ruth Franklin, a biographer of Jackson.

After the outrage subsided, the story became a classroom favorite, inspiring generations of horror writers and filmmakers. Stephen King, who discovered it in high school, recalled: “My first reaction: Shock. My second reaction: How did she do that?”

Read the original story in The New Yorker.

Elton John gave what is expected to be his last-ever performance in Britain. It was “rock history in the making,” The Guardian wrote.

A flood of bad scores — known as review bombing — can tank a novel before it’s even published.

The Hermitage Amsterdam cut ties with its Russian mother ship, The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It will now be called H’Art Museum.

Mix capers and avocados into this salad.

Watch “Casa Susanna,” a documentary about transgender women in the ’50s and ’60s, tonight.

Read a new book about a wildly successful art thief.

Explore Japan’s 750-mile Shikoku pilgrimage.

Clean dishes with the best dishwasher detergent.

Here are today’s Spelling Bee and the Bee Buddy, which helps you find remaining words. Yesterday’s pangrams were millionth and monolith.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — German

P.S. The Times wants to hear from New Yorkers about how they’ve handled the cost of child care.