The calendar said summer was almost over. The weather across parts of the south-central United States had other ideas. On September 15, a broad stretch of the region was dealing with intense heat, with afternoon temperatures reaching or approaching 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.
The heat was easy to see on NASA’s temperature map from that afternoon. It shows air temperatures about 6.5 feet above the ground at 4 p.m. Central Time. NASA produced the map by combining satellite observations with temperatures predicted by its GEOS model, which represents physical processes in the atmosphere.
