If you live in the Southwest, you don't need me to tell you that it is hot.  A massive "heat dome" has been sitting over the region for quite some time, and it doesn't appear that it will be moving much for at least several more days.  There have been many areas where the heat index has already been up around 120 degrees.  In Rio Grande Village, the actual temperature was 119 degrees on Friday, and forecasters were warning that the same reading would be reached again on Tuesday.  This extreme heat has already caused several deaths, and it could potentially cause widespread crop failures.

If you live in an area that is being affected by this heat dome, please don't take any unnecessary risks.

According to a professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University, the extreme heat that is being produced can make it "feel like an oven" when you are outside…

A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area, according to William Gallus, professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University.

"The heat dome can stretch over several states and linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven," Gallus said in an article in The Conversation.

Unfortunately, it is going to be some time before cooler temperatures come along, and it is being reported that extreme heat will soon "expand north into the Plains and east into the Southeast"…

Tens of millions of Americans across the south and central U.S. – many of them in Texas – have endured a brutal heat wave over the past couple of weeks as temperatures soared to record levels, including some above 110 degrees.