by A heat wave in Phoenix has set new daily records for 10 straight days during an October heat wave that swept across much of the West.
According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix was 109 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, over 10 degrees hotter than the normal temperature for that day of the year, which is 94 degrees.
The forecast is that this streak of broken records may last up to 16 days in a row. The current U.S. climate station record for the number of consecutive daily record highs is 14 from Burlington, Iowa, recorded during the Dust Bowl in 1936.
Dozens more October monthly record highs were reached Thursday in states including Kansas and Nebraska. California also broke records, including 105 degrees in Hanford, 104 degrees in Stockton and 105 degrees in Fresno, according to the NWS.
Today, 29 million people in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains are under a heat warning. The Plains and Midwest will see hot highs in the 80s and 90s, and the Northeast will likely see temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above average. Over 75% of the continental United States will experience temperatures 10 to 25 degrees above average as extreme temperatures continue throughout the weekend.
As excessive heat continues across the Lower 48 regions, tropical problems are brewing in the Gulf of Mexico as the National Hurricane Center continues to monitor an area that could gradually develop into a tropical or subtropical depression or storm sometime next week.
Regardless of developments, there is a high chance of very heavy rain in Florida beginning this Sunday and continuing throughout next week. Areas along and south of the I-4 corridor, including the Tampa Bay region hit hard by Hurricane Helene, could receive over 6 inches of rain.
Meteorologists are closely monitoring two key zones: Sarasota to Naples and Daytona Beach to West Palm Beach, where particularly heavy rainfall could occur.
The National Hurricane Center continues to monitor Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Storm Leslie in the open Atlantic, although neither poses a threat for landfall.
Such storms rarely occur in the Far Eastern tropical Atlantic in October. Typically, tropical systems closer to the United States form in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico as the fall season progresses. Therefore, these powerful storms are a powerful reminder of the record warm water temperatures that fuel these phenomena.
Hurricane Kirk made history when it reached Category 4 on Thursday, breaking the record for the easternmost Category 4 or 5 Atlantic hurricane in October and November. With winds of 145 miles per hour, the storm on Thursday also became the strongest hurricane of this late year since Hurricane Iota in 2020.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
