Millions of people in the eastern United States woke up to cooler, drier air Monday morning after severe storms helped put an end to the first heat wave of the season.
Over the weekend, severe storms swept through Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 200,000 customers.
Five tornadoes were reported from Colorado to Massachusetts on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. A tornado with winds of up to 105 mph struck Foxborough, Massachusetts, about 22 miles southwest of Boston.
A severe storm hits Kansas City, Missouri, on the night of July 30, 2023.
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Strong winds from a tornado in Foxborough caused a tree to fall on a home in the nearby town of Easton, with residents narrowly escaping.
“My wife was on the porch filming the rain and she turned off the camera. Within 15 seconds, that tree fell,” Mark Butler told ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston.
In Washington, D.C., wind speeds reached 84 mph as storms moved through the area.
The National Weather Service issued high temperature advisories for 10 US states, from Florida to Kansas, on July 31, 2023.
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Powerful storms hit the Plains, from Montana to Missouri, Sunday, bringing damaging winds of up to 91 mph and hailstones larger than a baseball. Kansas City, Missouri, was hit hard overnight with winds reaching around 80 mph in the metropolitan area.
Now comfortable weather is settling in on the East Coast.
But scorching temperatures are still sweeping across the South, where more than 70 million Americans are on alert for extreme temperatures.
Heat index values are expected to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit in cities such as Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Miami, Florida, from July 31 to August. 2, 2023.
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Arizona's capital city is currently experiencing a record period of 31 consecutive days with temperatures reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Earlier this month, overnight temperatures in Phoenix did not dip below 90 degrees for 16 days in a row.
For now, the Southwest will get a short break from the record-breaking heat wave as monsoon storms bring much-needed moisture to the region. The heat will instead be focused on Texas and the Gulf Coast this week, according to the latest weather forecast.
Austin, Texas, has already seen 19 straight days with temperatures rising to 103 degrees or higher, the highest on record and marking the hottest July on record for the city.
The National Weather Service issued high temperature advisories in effect Monday morning for 10 states, from Florida to Kansas. A number of cities could see record high temperatures by the afternoon, including 106 degrees in Dallas, Texas; 103 degrees in Austin, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; 99 degrees in New Orleans, Louisiana; And 95 degrees in Miami, Florida. Heat index values - a measure of how hot we feel when relative humidity is combined with air temperature – are expected to be even higher.
The heat waves that occurred in North America, Europe and China throughout July would not have been possible without global warming, according to a rapid attribution analysis conducted by World Weather Attribution, an academic collaboration that uses weather observations and climate models to calculate how weather affects climate. The change affects the intensity and likelihood of extreme weather events. In some areas, high temperatures have caused wildfires as well as heat-related hospitalizations and deaths, the researchers said.
ABC News' Kenton Gewick, Dan Beck and Ginger Zee contributed to this report.
