Severe storms in Central US, record heat in Southwest continues

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ABC News By: DANIEL MANZO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Powerful thunderstorms across the Central U.S. and gusty storms in the Northeast have caused at least 327 reports of severe weather in the last 24 hours.The wind reports have been quite notable in the central U.S. A 90 mph gust was reported in Scott County, Iowa, an 80 mph gust was reported at the Moline Quad Cities airport in Illinois, an 85 mph wind gust has been reported in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, which is part of the greater Oklahoma City metro area, and there have been numerous reports of 70 to 80 mph winds in the city of Norman, Oklahoma, just south of Oklahoma City.There have been at least three reported tornadoes — one in Minnesota, one in Maine, and one in Texas.Softball-sized hail which is four inches in diameter has also been reported in Kansas due to evening storms.Additionally, storms in the Northeast brought, locally, 4 inches of rain to parts of eastern Pennsylvania and southwest New Jersey on Saturday. Locally, over 3 inches of rain has been reported in parts of western New York where there have been some flash flood warnings overnight.Power outages are being reported in several states due to the overnight severe storms including places like Oklahoma that has 103,228 people without power, Texas: with 57,055 and Illinois with 47,653.Today, there area with the greatest risk for severe storms will be over parts of western Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and Texas as well as parts of eastern Colorado and New Mexico.Gusty storms will also be possible through parts of the southern Plains and into the Ohio and Tennessee Valley.Tomorrow, the threat area for severe summer storms will stretch from Colorado to Minnesota, where damaging winds and large hail will be possible.Another round of gusty storms will be possible across much of the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston.Meanwhile, dangerous summer heat is gripping parts of the southern U.S. and is forecast to expand over other parts of the U.S. later this week.Roswell, New Mexico reached 111 degrees on Saturday, a new all-time record high for July.Albuquerque reached 103 degrees, which was good enough for a daily record there.Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories have also been issued from California to Alabama today.Records will be possible today across nearly the entire Southwest.Las Vegas is forecasted to hit 113 degrees, its daily record is 114.Phoenix is going for 116, which would beat the daily record of 115 degrees.Tucson is going for 111 degrees, which would beat the daily record of 110 degrees.On Monday, records will be possible once again in parts of the Southwest U.S. including Phoenix, Dalhart, Amarillo and Tucson.Meanwhile closer to the Gulf, the temperatures might not be as hot but the humidity is very high and therefore the heat index will be well over 100 degrees in some spots again on Sunday.The heat index this morning at 4 a.m. at the New Orleans Superdome is 101 degrees. The New Orleans airport was reading a heat index of 111 degrees at 11 p.m. on Saturday night.Today, the heat index across much of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi will be over 100 degrees with the highest values along the Gulf of Mexico.Over the next few days we will see the heat and humidity expand into the Midwest with temperatures rising across nearly the entire central U.S. and much of the eastern U.S.Temperatures will head into the 90s across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic and the humidity will be quite high as well which will result in widespread sweltering heat across much of the region in the coming days this week. Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.