A brutal heat wave is gripping Texas for third straight week

Punishing heat is gripping Texas for a third straight week, with tens of millions of people in other states across the South also facing scorching conditions this week. It’s a brutal heat wave that officials say “shows no signs of letting up.”

Much of Texas continues to swelter under triple-digit temperatures, and heat records across the state have been smashed in what has been a blistering start to summer. Warnings and advisories for excessive heat are also in place across the Southwest and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, according to the National Weather Service.

In an update Monday, the agency said the oppressive heat has been caused by a “stagnant upper-level ridge over the south-central U.S.,” adding that the dome of high pressure is expanding and will blast heat over much of the southern band of the country in the coming days.

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