Red flag warnings in West as record heat, gusty winds expected in California
ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Offshore winds are drying air out and heating it up along the California coast as a record high temperature was broken at San Diego Brown Field Airport Tuesday at 100 degrees.
Phoenix is expected to break an all-time number of days for 100 degrees in a year Wednesday as it will be the 144th day this year at 100 degrees or higher, which has never happened in recorded history in the city.
Las Vegas had its 176th day in a row without a drop of rain which has also never happened. Wednesday will be day 177 without rain there.
Meanwhile, dangerous fire conditions are not only in California Wednesday but all the way east into the Plains.
Gusty winds and dry conditions is the biggest threat for fires to spread as Red Flag Warnings have been issued from California to Indiana.
Recently hard-hit Northern California and the San Francisco Bay area are under a Red Flag Warning where winds could gust 20 to 40 mph over the next few days.
In addition to the wind, temperatures are on the rise with some areas forecast to hit record highs from Northern California all the way to the southern part of the state.
But as the West coast heats up and dries out, the East is now cooling off.
A new cold blast is on the way for the Midwest and the East Coast by the end of the week.
Some of that cold air will move into the East Coast by the weekend, with wind chills in the 20s and 30s inland and lower 40s along the I-95 corridor.
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