Monday, July 11, 2011
Record Temperatures Seen As Heat Wave Plagues 15 States
Fifteen states are under heat advisories, which means temperatures are expected to exceed 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Kansas City and St. Louis in Missouri are under an excessive heat warning, along with Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; and Evansville, Indiana.
In these areas, the heat index, or how hot the body feels due to the combined effects of heat and humidity, will reach between 110 and 115 degrees this week.
The advisories and warnings will remain in effect until at least Tuesday. Several high-temperature records have been broken recently. Wichita, Kansas, hit 111 degrees Sunday.
The National Weather Service says temperatures of 111 degrees have only occurred there 10 times since July 1888.
Also on Sunday, the temperature in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri, hit 106 degrees, and in Springfield, Missouri, it topped 102 degrees.
Both of these temperatures bested high-temperature records set in the 1980s.
Oklahoma City hit a record high of 108 degrees Thursday, the same day that Tulsa hit a record high of 104 degrees.
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