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Record breaking temperatures threaten to bake cities across the US from the Pacific Northwest to Gulf of Mexico and right up the East Coast. Across the US, 33 weather stations have a chance to tie or break daily records.
In Washington, DC temperatures are forecast to hit 99F and with humidity feel closer to 109F, threatening a record for the date at Reagan National Airport 0f 100F set in 2002, the US Weather Prediction Center said.
Friday’s high in Spokane, Washington is forecast to reach 106F (41C), which would shatter the daily record of 100 set in 1961, and be close to the monthly high of 108F set Aug. 4, 1961, the National Weather Service said. With the heat there will also be a fire risk as dry lightning is set to breakout across western states, including a large part of California and the Pacific Northwest, the US Storm Prediction Center said.
In California, The Park Fire has grown to 394,953 acres, where it remains the fifth largest fire in state history, and is only 22% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Year to date, fires have killed at least one person and burned 768,137 acres in California — 29 times more than last year's 26,003 acres that had burned by this time. The five-year average is 166,644 acres.
Meanwhile, New York's Central Park is set to hit 90F but will feel more like 98F, the National Weather Service said.
In other weather news:
South America: Though it is still winter in the Southern Hemisphere, heat waves are forecast to blanket parts of South America pushing temperatures to near summer levels, according to social media post by Extreme Temperatures Around the World.
Tropic: There is an 80% chance a patch of thunderstorms and showers will coalesce into tropical depression or storm this weekend in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said. If the storm is organized and strong enough it would be named Debby and would be too far east to upset offshore oil or natural gas production in the Gulf. In the eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Carlotta may become a hurricane later, but is far from land and isn't a threat.
Germany: Heavy rain has triggered landslides in parts of Germany. Downpours near the north German town of Kassel led to landslides, according to national forecaster DWD. Red warnings for very heavy rain are in place for a swathe of the country that includes Dresden and Leipzig.
Mediterranean: There are heat alerts from the French Riviera to the islands of Greece. Temperatures in the interior of Sardinia will climb as high as 43C (109F) on Friday.
North Korea: The country’s propaganda apparatus is breaking new ground in the way. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has been portrayed with ordinary citizens tackling a flood emergency that has devastated a northwestern area of the country. The disaster is estimated to have caused a “considerable human toll,” according to the South Korean ministry that manages relations with the neighbor.
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