Blast Of October Heat Crosses The Nation

A larg wildfire in Colorado Monday set off by
record heat and dry conditions. 

It might be well into fall, but summer is living on this week in much of the nation.

In some places, in a big way.    

Dodge City, Kansas, for instance, got all the way up to 101 degrees Monday. That's the hottest it's been there in October since they started keep track of such things in the late 1800s.

It's all the more impressive since we're well into October, not the warmer beginning of the month.

Not to be outdone, the little town of Slapout, Oklahoma reached 102 degrees on Sunday, as did Perrytown, Texas. That's the lastest in the season it's been so hot in those areas, too.

Lots of cities over a widespread area of the nation reported record highs Monday, including St. Louis, Missouri at 91 degrees, Nashville, Tennessee at 86, Tulsa, Oklahoma at 90 degrees and La Guardia airport in New York at 83 degrees.

The hot, dry weather set off wildfires, including a bad one in Colorado that destroyed at least one home and forced the evacuation of nearly 200 others.

Record warmth will continue today in the eastern third of the nation.  High temperatures will get into the 80s as far north as Vermont today.

Southern California is under a fire alert this week as hot, very dry and windy weather is forecast.

It is October, so it won't last. It looks like it might snow a little in the higher elevations of northern New England by Saturday.