The sun rises amid high temperatures in Mexico City, Thursday, May 23, 2024. Extreme heat in Mexico, Central America and parts of the U.S. South has left millions of people in sweltering temperatures, strained energy grids and resulted in iconic Howler monkeys in Mexico dropping dead from trees.
A heat advisory issued by the NWS was in effect for parts of Texas Thursday. Temperatures along the Rio Grande were expected to rise up to 111 degrees Fahrenheit and 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the Davis and Chinati mountains. Kruczkiewicz said the extreme heat adds another ingredient to the risk of tropical cyclone activity this season, since these storms are fueled by warm ocean temperatures.
The situation is especially serious in places like Mexico City, which on May 9 had a record high of almost 94 degrees Fahrenheit and is expected to reach 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming days. In the capital, heat combines with pollution so ozone concentrations are expected to increase, warned the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s climate change program.