Unremitting heat persists indefinitely ahead.
When's the end to this madness?
The coming weeks and months appear to bring scorching heat, with brief moments of relief being rare. And as our planet continues to warm due to the pollution of fossil fuels, the disheartening truth is that the heat isn't going away – it's only going to become more regular and intense as global temperatures increase.
"Summers like the one we are experiencing now and the summer we had last year – which was the hottest on record – will become standard fare in the coming years," said Kristina Dahl, a climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
A glimpse of the future
There will still be cooler-than-average summers in the future, but climate change is increasing the likelihood that more summers will turn out to be hotter-than-average, Dahl explained to CNN. And the effects of a changing climate are already becoming apparent, even before summer reaches its hottest months.
This spring, numerous cities in the eastern half of the US suffered through one of their 10 hottest Mays on record, signaling a shifting climate: dangerous heat infiltrating typically cooler seasons.
Early season heat waves heighten the danger posed by the current deadliest weather hazard, as the body can't gradually adjust, or adapt, to the heat, Dahl pointed out.
Abnormally high temperatures are also altering our perception of what's hot. Temperatures for at least midweek will soar up to 10 degrees above the norm in parts of the western and southern US, but that pales in comparison to last week's oppressive conditions.
Summer should be hot, just not this sweltering hot: Parts of the central and eastern US experienced temperatures 25 or 30 degrees above the norm last week. The heat was so extreme that even Caribou, Maine, a town just 10 miles from the Canadian border, hit 96 degrees, tying its all-time record high temperature.
"This isn't your grandma's heat, this is significantly different," Dahl said. "This (heat) really isn't normal and it's demonstrably influenced by climate change."
The hottest is still to come
Forecasts for the next few weeks, the next month, and the rest of the summer all suggest one thing with utmost clarity: temperatures above the average for large sections of the US.
Above average temperatures are predicted to last into early July for the majority of the Lower 48, except for states along the northernmost tier of the country, according to forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center.
July is generally the hottest month of the year, but it is expected to be even hotter than usual this summer in nearly every state.
Most of the East and parts of the Rockies are likely to be the regions with the most unusually high temperatures next month. This extended heat could set records.
Last July in Phoenix was the hottest month ever experienced in any US city. The city's average temperature – calculated based on both high and low temperatures for the month – was an astounding 102.7 degrees.
Heat in Phoenix last summer wasn't just intense, it was prolonged. Its longevity and dangerously high daytime and overnight temperatures took a toll on human health. The relentless July contributed to the deadliest year for heat in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, since records began in 2003.
Heat persisted well beyond July last summer for much of the US.
A sequence of unyielding heat domes cooked vast portions of the country, with each wave making the conditions worse than the previous one. Each heat dome that settled over a region torched the ground, dried out the soil, and made subsequent temperatures even hotter.
This year looks to be no different. Warmer-than-normal conditions are expected to persist through the summer and most of the fall, according to the CPC.
Warmer-than-normal falls aren't nearly as dangerous as hot summers. But cooler seasons only mask the persistent threat of extreme heat as long as global temperatures continue to rise, which scientists say can only be mitigated by radically cutting back or phasing out the use of fossil fuels that pollute the planet.
"The more we try to normalize (heat), the greater the risk that we'll lose sight of what needs to be done to combat climate change," Dahl said.
