THE HEAT WAVE WE ARE HAVING RIGHT NOW. AND WE'RE HEADING INTO THE LONG LABOR DAY WEEKEND. BUT IT FEELS MORE LIKE THE 4TH OF JULY, RIGHT? THERE'S AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN PLACE, AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS THAT SOME OF THE HOTTEST WEATHER WE'VE HAD ALL SUMMER. KEVIN DOOM IS A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGIST, AND HE JOINS US RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING WITH US. YEAH. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME. YOU KNOW, KEVIN, WE KEEP HEARING THE TERM EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN? SO AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS SOMETHING THAT WILL ISSUE FOR PARTS OF THE AREA. IF WE'RE EXPECTING SOME RATHER DANGEROUS HEAT. SO THERE ARE SPECIFIC THRESHOLDS THAT GO INTO THAT. THE COOK COUNTY AREA AND THE CITY OF CHICAGO HAVE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THRESHOLDS THAN THE SUBURBS, BUT BASICALLY THAT MEANS A FEW DAYS OF HEAT INDICES OF 105 OR GREATER, OR A COUPLE DAYS OF 110 OR GREATER. SO THAT'S WHAT WE'RE EXPERIENCING HERE THESE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS. YEAH MORE THAN 45 MILLION PEOPLE ARE UNDER SOME KIND OF A HEAT ALERT. DO YOU THINK THESE TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH LABOR DAY WEEKEND? WELL, FORTUNATELY, THE EXTREME HEAT LOOKS TO WRAP UP. AFTER TODAY. WE'RE STILL GOING TO EXPERIENCE SOME PRETTY SUMMERLIKE HEAT THE NEXT FEW DAYS. IT IS STILL GOING TO BE RATHER HUMID OUT THERE. WE'RE PROBABLY LOOKING AT HEAT INDICES CLOSE TO 90 DEGREES THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK, BUT LOOKING AHEAD TO THE WEEKEND LOOKS A LITTLE LESS HUMID, SO LUCKILY A LITTLE MORE COMFORTABLE. YOU KNOW, KEVIN, LAST MONTH WAS THE HOTTEST MONTH EVER RECORDED SINCE GLOBAL RECORDS BEGAN IN 1850. ARE WE SEEING HEAT WAVES LIKE THIS HAPPENING? MORE COMMON? AND IF SO, DO WE KNOW WHY? YEAH, HEAT WAVES LIKE THIS. WE ARE SEEING THEM. NOT NECESSARILY MORE COMMON OVERALL, BUT WE DID SEE A SIMILAR HEAT WAVE LIKE THIS LAST YEAR AND SIMILAR TIME OF YEAR. ACTUALLY, LATE AUGUST WE SAW A 98 AND 100 DEGREE READING AT O'HARE. BUT PRIOR TO THAT, WE HADN'T SEEN A 99 DEGREE READING AT O'HARE LIKE WE SAW TODAY SINCE THE 80S. SO THIS SORT OF HEAT, YOU KNOW, IT IS RATHER UNCOMMON, BUT IT'S NOT NECESSARILY UNPRECEDENTED. WE HAVE SEEN HEAT LIKE THIS STRETCH INTO AS LATE AS MID-SEPTEMBER. SO IT'S NOT UNTIL WE START GETTING INTO EARLY TO MID SEPTEMBER THAT WE START TALKING MAYBE HISTORIC LEVELS AND THEN IT'S NOT UNTIL WE START SEEING THESE HEAT WAVES COME AROUND A LOT MORE FREQUENTLY THAN MAYBE WE COULD START ROPING. ROPING IN THE CONVERSATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE. YOU MENTIONED SEPTEMBER THERE. CAN WE EXPECT MORE HOT WEATHER BEFORE IT BEGINS TO GET COLDER? CAN WE BREAK OUT THE FLANNEL AND PUMPKIN SPICE ALREADY? IT'S STILL A LITTLE EARLY TO TELL. YOU KNOW, IT'S STILL EARLY TO SAY THAT WE WON'T GET ANOTHER, MAYBE A COUPLE OF DAYS OF SOME SUMMER LIKE HEAT GOING INTO SEPTEMBER. IT'LL BE RATHER TOUGH TO GET HEAT LIKE THIS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR, AS IT'S ALREADY PRETTY LATE IN THE YEAR TO GET HEAT LIKE THIS AS WE TALKED ABOUT. BUT YEAH, STILL CAN'T, Y