NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Scorching heat was spreading Friday across much of the South, where temperatures are expected to soar over 100 degrees and persist into next week.
The National Weather Service posted heat advisories and warnings from the New Mexico-Texas border eastward to parts of Alabama. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, west Tennessee and parts of Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky were all under heat advisories or warnings Friday. In Texas, the nation’s largest prison system took the unprecedented step of allowing all inmates and staff unlimited access to cold water and opportunities to cool off in air-conditioned spaces.
“This one will be rather long-lasting in the areas it affects,” said David Hamrick, a forecaster at the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md.
The hot temperatures will combine with high humidity, which could be lethal to some people, forecasters said. They were warning that children, older people, those without air conditioning and outdoor workers will be particularly at risk.