It’s been the warmest March on record so far across the United States, in terms of daytime high temperatures. And now, unprecedented heat for this time of year is expanding and intensifying across the West.
Not only will temperatures break March monthly records, but this heatwave will even break April records. Over the next week, around 800 high temperature records are forecast to be neared, tied or broken at 165 locations in Western and Central states — some by more than 10 degrees — with unusual warmth set to linger into late March.
In a post on X, meteorologist Jeff Berardelli pointed out that a forecast high temperature of 114 in Riverside County, California on Friday could break the March national temperature record of 108 in South Texas — and the April national temperature record of 113 in Death Valley, California.
The National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned about heatstroke risks, especially for those in parked cars where temperatures can rapidly rise. The heat can be dangerous for pets, too.
According to climate scientist Daniel Swain, this event is similar to the record-breaking heat dome that hit the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia in Canada during June 2021, when Seattle’s temperature soared to 108 degrees.
Why it’s getting so hot, so early
Here are peak temperatures forecast in some places across the West.
All temperatures listed would break or equal March monthly records at the respective location, with April monthly records set to be broken in Phoenix and Flagstaff in Arizona as well as Las Vegas and Albuquerque.
- San Francisco: 86 degrees on Thursday
- San Jose: 94 degrees on Thursday and Friday
- Los Angeles (downtown): 99 degrees on Thursday
- Palm Springs, California: 107 on Friday
- Phoenix: 106 degrees on Friday
- Flagstaff, Arizona: 84 degrees on Thursday and Friday
- Las Vegas: 100 degrees on Friday
- Salt Lake City: 81 degrees on Friday and Saturday
- Denver: 89 degrees on Saturday
- Albuquerque: 95 degrees on Saturday
- Cheyenne, Wyoming: 79 degrees on Saturday
Friday’s forecast high temperature of 106 in Phoenix is about 26 degrees above-average for the time of year. If this heat dome was instead occurring during peak summer heat in July — when the average in Phoenix is around 107 degrees — it could push temperatures past 130 degrees.
Climate change is pushing up average temperatures and increasing the likelihood, severity and frequency of high temperature extremes — like those during this March heatwave — but is it also causing more heat domes?
That answer is a little more complicated. Researchers that studied the 2021 heat dome in the Northwest found that while global warming has accelerated since 1990, no similar trend was found in the evolution of heat domes.
Even though heat domes aren’t a new phenomenon, one occurring in 2026 can bring more extreme temperatures than one in 1996 or 1966 because of the steepening background warming trend. And those increasing extremes can lead to increasing risk for heat-related illness — even in late winter.
The building heat dome over the Southwest can be thought of as a mountain of high pressure in the atmosphere, forming when jet stream winds weaken greatly in the region. It blocks weather systems from entering the region, causing a traffic jam in the sky. That traffic jam has already contributed to recent flooding and damage in Hawaii and frigid temperatures and lots of snow in parts of Alaska, including Juneau.
But underneath the heat dome, which will last into next week, it will feel more like summer than winter or spring.
Heat begets drought, drought begets heat
The latest drought outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center indicates that drought will probably persist or develop across most of the Intermountain West and in parts of the Plains.
Worsening drought will increasingly strain water availability and contribute to above-normal wildfire risk in the months ahead.
Because of unseasonable heat, snow melt is occurring rapidly in the West, even at the highest elevations. This heatwave will worsen the drought. In the coming months, more of the sun’s energy can go to heating the ground rather than evaporating water or melting snow.
Here’s the current percentage of drought-affected land across Western states.
- Utah: 98 percent
- New Mexico: 82 percent
- Wyoming: 79 percent
- Montana: 67 percent
- Colorado: 64 percent
- Idaho: 63 percent
- Washington: 37 percent
- Arizona: 34 percent
- Oregon: 34 percent
- Nevada: 27 percent
- California: 0 percent
The post It’s so hot in the West that temperatures may even break April records soon appeared first on Washington Post.
