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Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Roughly 143 million people in 19 U.S. states Thursday will again face intense, brutal heat that is forcing some school closings, a spike in heat-related emergency room visits and canceled outdoor events. Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Iowa, Kansas City, Mo., and Oklahoma City will all see temperatures near or over 100 Thursday. Heat alerts are in effect from Chicago to New Orleans.
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"At one time Wednesday, excessive heat warnings -- the National Weather Service's highest heat alert -- covered parts of 19 states and just over 100 million people from South Dakota to western Florida," weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said.
This late-summer heat wave follows a record breaking worldwide series of record-breaking heat events in July that would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.
A huge stagnant heat dome hovers over the central United States as several other heat domes have done this summer.
According to historical weather data this summer's extreme heat is stronger that during the dust bowl era in August 1936 and this August is headed for another global monthly heat record.
The impacts range include wildfires and the hottest summer on record for southern cities Pensacola, Sarasota and Key West, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Del Rio, El Paso, San Antonio and Victoria, Texas; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.; and Roswell, N.M.
Kansas City Public Schools are sending students home early this week.
"The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for our area, and the heat index is expected to soar well over 100 degrees each day this week," the school system said in a statement.
"In light of this intense heat wave, we have made the decision to release students early from all of our schools for the rest of the week.
In Nashville, Rutherford County Schools are scaling back outdoor activities and taking a number of precautions to see students safely through the heat wave.
"To be extra cautious this week because of the heat index, RCS has implemented additional precautions and restrictions this week to keep students safe. We will continue monitoring the forecast and will keep parents posted about any additional changes," the school system said in a statement on its website.
A southwestern U.S. heat dome that caused extended suffering in July has expanded and moved toward the center of the country.
Heat is the number one weather-related killer.
The National Weather Service is warning that this August heat wave will pose a greater health risk than usual, and be potentially deadly, due to multiple consecutive days of extreme heat. During the heat wave, temperatures won't be cooling down enough even at night to offer relief.
Weather forecasts call for some relief to begin to ease over the Midwest between Thursday and Friday as the heat dome at least starts to move south.
