The ‘heat dome’ that has killed dozens of people is heading to the US

An extreme heat wave is heading for the US from Mexico and experts warn that 7.7 million people within the hotspots may be affected.

Florida, Texas and parts of Nevada will be affected by the expanding ‘heat dome,’ with temperatures expected to rise to dangerous levels of more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Soaring temperatures have already begun to fuel violent thunderstorms in Houston and Dallas, Texas in the past two weeks and reached a record-breaking 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Memorial day – breaking the previous record of 108 degrees in May 1998. 

The ‘heat dome’ that spread across Mexico since March has already claimed the lives of more than two dozen people and killed 157 endangered howler monkeys.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued a warning that much of the Southwest will be impacted by the heat dome, causing temperatures to jump to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The state accounts for six of the top 16 US cities that will experience the hottest days with the temperature reaching 111 degrees Fahrenheit in Corpus Christi week and nearly 100 in Dallas by early next week.

This is about 10 to 15 degrees higher than the state’s average a decade ago. 

Residents in other cities including Tampa and Miami, Florida, Phoenix, Arizona and New Orleans, Louisiana should start preparing by making sure their homes are fully stocked with water and that they have access to air conditioning.

A heat dome occurs when hot ocean air becomes trapped in the atmosphere – much like placing a lid on a boiling pot. 

The hot air expands across the atmosphere and creates a dome-like structure that prevents cooler air from circulating, blocks cloud coverage and rain and can increase the chance of wildfires. 

‘Basically we just get the sun pouring down sunshine unimpeded, baking the ground, and no real cloud cover or moisture to stave off our temperatures,’ Gabriel A. Vecchi, professor of Geosciences at Princeton University told TIME.

Because the heat domes expel rain, it forces any moisture to move up and over the bubble, creating what’s called ‘ring of fire’ thunderstorms which have occurred in parts of Texas.

Extreme heat kills more people in the US than any other weather pattern, causing the deaths of 1,220 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It only takes 10 to 15 minutes for your body to overheat and if it can’t cool off immediately, it can lead to muscle cramps or spasms, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, headaches, and death.

The extreme heat is expected to last from June through August and experts are concerned that it will contribute to a higher risk of tropical cyclones this summer.

Experts are concerned the heat dome will also cause major droughts after it impacted 80 percent of southern Mexico where temperatures reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit.

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It has caused lakes and dams to dry up and water supplies to run out, prompting protests from Mexico City police agents who said their barracks didn’t have water for a week and the bathrooms were unusable.

The extreme heat is caused by greenhouse gasses that come from burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.

‘We can expect another dangerous hot summer season, with daily records already being broken in parts of Texas and Florida,’ Kristy Dahl, a principal climate scientist for the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists told The Guardian.

‘As we warm the planet, we are going to see climate disasters pile up and compound against each other because of the lack of resilience in our infrastructure and government systems.’

In response to the increasing heatwaves, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created a seven-day heat risk forecast so Americans can stay up-to-date on how they’ll be impacted.