NOAA warns of extreme heat across central and eastern U.S.

NOAA forecasters said above-normal temperatures were likely to persist across much of the U.S. through mid-August, with the strongest extreme-heat signal centered on parts of the central and eastern United States. The first break from the heat may not be a clean one: as the upper-level ridge weakens, cooler air and more storms could begin to replace the entrenched heat in some Eastern states, but hot, humid weather is still set to linger.

NOAA’s key message for Aug. 6-14 highlighted a risk of extreme heat over much of the southern and central U.S. It also flagged a high risk in the Sonoran Desert on Aug. 8, where temperatures could have approached 120 degrees. That kind of heat remains the most dangerous end of the national forecast map, especially where the combination of daytime extremes and warm nights leaves little recovery time.

A separate Aug. 1 outlook said a heat wave was forecast to spread across the central and eastern U.S. as an upper-level ridge built. That pattern matters because it can trap heat over large regions for days at a time, raising the odds that cities and rural communities alike will spend the night with little cooling. NOAA’s 8-to-14-day and week 3-4 outlook products both pointed to shifting weather patterns later in the summer, a sign that the ridge may not hold forever even if the relief arrives unevenly.

The broader summer pattern has stayed stubbornly hot. AccuWeather’s April 30, 2025 forecast described summer 2025 as a season of heat, thunderstorms and drought across the U.S., with above-average temperatures expected across much of the country. NOAA’s August 2024 climate outlook also said above-average temperatures continued across most of the western and eastern U.S. during July 2024, reinforcing how often the East has been locked into repeated heat stretches.

For now, the national picture is split between the promise of a pattern change and the persistence of dangerous heat. Parts of the East may eventually trade the worst of the heat dome for cooler air and stormier conditions, but the central U.S., the Southwest and the Sonoran Desert remain the places where the heat threat is still most acute.