Public Safety and Wildfire Risk

An expansive March heat dome is unleashing record-smashing warmth across 17 states from Arizona to Wyoming, sending temperatures into the 90s and possibly up to 100°F in places like Phoenix and pushing at least eight major cities — including Phoenix, Albuquerque, Austin, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Tucson and Tulsa — to 90°F or higher. Forecasters warn the central U.S. may run 30–40°F above normal with more than 200 daily records possible, and overlapping fire‑weather alerts from Montana to Texas signal a critical wildfire threat amid 40–50 mph gusts and humidity as low as 4%.