Canadian fires trigger more air quality warnings across US; 80M face heat warnings
Unrelenting smoke drifting down from almost 1,000 Canadian wildfires triggered air quality alerts over vast sections of the U.S. and was expected to last through Tuesday, forecasters warned Monday.
The National Weather Service said Canadian wildfire smoke will "remain in the picture" through Tuesday as winds sweeping down from the Canadian Prairies continue to funnel more smoke into the northern High Plains, the Midwest, Great Lakes, central Tennessee, North Carolina and into the Northeast.
"Smoke concentrations should diminish over parts of the heartland on Tuesday but may still cause poor air quality along the East Coast," weather service meteorologist Peter Mullinax wrote.
In Cleveland, the Air Quality Index reached 159 early Monday, putting the city's air solidly in the unhealthy red zone. Chicago at 154 and Pittsburgh at 151 were not much better, and Indianapolis was at an unhealthy 143 .
Over 80 million Americans facing heat alerts
The smoke warning comes as more than 80 million Americans faced heat-related weather alerts Monday morning. Triple-digit temperatures were set to impact residents from Texas to California, the weather service said.
Heat advisories, watches and warnings have impacted nearly 100 million people, or almost a third of Americans, over the past 30 days as summer temperatures kick in across the country. Temperatures in some desert areas were predicted to soar past 120 degrees during the day and remain in the 90s overnight. This week, forecast temperatures in the Southwest range up to 100-110 degrees, even reaching 115 in parts of California, Nevada and Arizona.
"Record-breaking heat is expected each day through mid-week in the Four Corners states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) from Texas to the Lower Mississippi Valley, and South Florida," Mullinax wrote. "Daytime highs will routinely reside in the triple digits in the Desert Southwest and deep in the heart of Texas."
Heat advisories, excessive heat warnings and excessive heat watches were in place in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida.
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Northeast could see more flooding
High moisture in the air combined with a slow-moving cold front from the west will cause heavy showers and storms in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The soil in the Northeast is already highly saturated with water following heavy flooding in Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont last week, according to the weather service. This increases the risk of flash flooding in those areas.
The Weather Prediction Center has issued a moderate risk of flash flooding for the New England area. Residents should be cautious of impassable roadways, overflowing creaks and possible mudslides. States from Virginia to Maine are all included in the slight risk area.
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, flooding leaves 5 dead, 2 missing
At least five people died and a 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister remained missing after they were swept away by fast-rising floodwaters on a Pennsylvania road on Saturday, officials said.
"It's very possible" there could be more victims, Bucks County coroner Meredith Buck told the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the Paste BN Network.
Showers and thunderstorms also likely
Numerous showers and thunderstorms will engulf portions of the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Northeast, and Florida through Tuesday, the weather service said.
On Tuesday, severe weather was also possible in the Middle Mississippi Valley and Lower Ohio Valley, where storms could produce damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash flooding.
US weather watches and warnings
National weather radar
Contributing: Jo Ciavaglia, Michele Haddon, Liam Price, J. Staas Haught; the Associated Press