Severe weather forecast around US with high Southwest temperatures, Gulf rain and Rockies snow
Heat and cold extremes are expected in the U.S. Extreme weather that ranged from triple digit temperatures in the Southwest to unseasonable cold in the Pacific Northwest has been forecast over the U.S. into the early part of the week
PHOENIX (AP) — Heat and cold extremes are expected this week in the U.S. Officials warned Southwest residents to take precautions as a heat wave moves east, while heavy rains and flooding could drench the Gulf states and snow threatens parts of the Rockies and Northwest.
Extreme heat spread across Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado and Kansas as severe weather swept across many parts of the U.S. on Sunday. There was unseasonable cold in the Pacific Northwest, snow headed to the northern Rocky Mountains and heavy rainfall forecast from the northern Plains to the Upper Midwest.
The National Weather Service estimated more than 63 million people were under heat advisories on Sunday, stretching from the Southwest northward up through Denver and into Chicago.
Temperatures in Phoenix, which hit 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44.4 Celsius) on Saturday, eased slightly on Sunday to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius). Weather service forecasters say the first two weeks of June in Phoenix already have been an average of 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal, making it the hottest start to June on record.