Record-smashing heat continues: 'Basically the entire U.S. is going to be hot'

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://apnews.com/article/record-heat-climate-warming-arizona-california-11dcebf8ba88cfcd3fd9bc1144a5df10

BY SETH BORENSTEIN
Updated 4:12 PM EDT, March 23, 2026

After smashing March heat records in 14 states and the U.S. as a whole, the gigantic heat dome that’s baked the Southwest is creeping eastward and may end up being one of the most expansive heat waves in American history, meteorologists and weather historians said.

And it’s not going away for awhile, maybe not till the middle of the next week as April starts, said meteorologist Gregg Gallina of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

“Basically the entire U.S. is going to be hot,” Gallina said Monday. “The area of record temperatures is extremely large. That’s the thing that’s really bizarre.”

This heat dome — in which high pressure is acting like a pot lid trapping hot air over a region — will leave Flagstaff, Arizona, with 11 or 12 straight days of temperatures higher than the city’s previous March record, said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections.

…

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. Mind-blowing March heat wave crests; records melt from Arizona to Minnesota

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/03/mind-blowing-march-heat-wave-crests-records-melt-from-arizona-to-minnesota/

Fourteen states have set all-time March heat records, and the U.S.-wide record was tied or beaten on four consecutive days.

by BOB HENSON and JEFF MASTERS
MARCH 23, 2026

In one of the most astounding global weather events of the century thus far, hundreds of cities across the western and central United States and northern Mexico have endured their hottest March weather on record over the past week – and in some cases, heat that’s never been observed prior to May. Multiple analyses have found that the extent and intensity of this heat wave would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.

Consider this: The U.S. national heat record for March was smashed on Friday with 112°F at Buttercup and Squaw Lake, California. That reading came within just a single degree Fahrenheit of the nation’s April heat record of 113°F, which was set at Death Valley, California, on April 24, 1946, and again on April 22, 2012.

Through yesterday, these are the major climate stations that have recorded a temperature this month that matches or exceeds their April monthly record. 🔥

— Climatologist49 (@climatologist49.bsky.social) 2026-03-22T20:19:29.469Z

Another burst of record heat will surge across the Sun Belt by midweek, one that would have been even more history-making had this past weekend not occurred.

The footprint of historic March heat expanded yesterday—intensifying across the Plains while extending as far east as Tennessee.
Shown are select cities where March high temperature records were tied or broken last week. For heat safety and awareness, visit heat.gov

— National Weather Service (@nws.noaa.gov) 2026-03-22T22:57:59.012Z

…

[-misanthroptimist]

2. I guess I'm part of the "Basically"

High of 33 in my neck of the woods in northern ME.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Patience, it's coming

Thursday, we’re looking at a projected high of 64.