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As a heat dome settles over Texas, some cities are hotter than the Sahara Desert

Parts of Texas on Thursday will feel hotter than the Sahara Desert, as a heat dome over the region sends temperatures skyrocketing into the triple digits.

Across central and southern Texas, heat index values — a measure of what conditions feel like when air temperatures and humidity are combined — will range from 105 degrees to 108 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday. These “feel like” temperatures are hotter than parts of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, where several Moroccan cities were forecast to hit the high 80s and low 90s F.

Several cities in Texas, including Houston, San Antonio and Austin, could set new daily temperature records Thursday. And there will be little relief from the heat dome in the coming days.

Muggy and “possibly even downright oppressive” conditions are expected to linger through the weekend and into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

Texans are no stranger to high heat and humidity, but conditions this week are more common in the heart of summer than in May.

A heat advisory remains in effect in Atascosa, Bexar, Frio, Medina, Uvalde and Wilson counties until 8 p.m. local time Thursday, with the National Weather Service warning that hot temperatures and high humidity “may cause heat illnesses.”

In a post earlier this week on X, the weather service said people “will not be acclimated to this type of heat so early within the year and thus the risk for heat related illness is higher than normal.”

The early-season heat wave has already smashed several records. New daily high temperatures were set Wednesday in Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio, Texas. A high of 100 F was recorded at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, beating the previous record high for May 14 of 96 F that was set in 2003. San Antonio reached 102 F, beating the city’s previous daily record of 97 F that was set in 2022. And a high of 104 F was recorded in Del Rio, inching out a previous daily record set in 2003 of 103 F.

While it's tricky to tie individual extreme weather events to climate change, studies have shown that global warming is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves around the world. The planet’s 10 hottest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the past two years have shattered global temperature records.

This week’s extreme heat is projected to continue baking Texas and parts of the southern and central United States on Friday and into the weekend. Heat index values across Texas are expected to be between 100 F and 110 F through Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

“No matter how you slice it, it is going to be a very hot weekend across all of South Central Texas that likely extends into early next week,” the weather service said in its long-term forecast.