U.S. Heat Wave Forecast: When High Temperatures Will Affect You

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Friday is the first day of summer. And boy, will it feel like it.

By Judson Jones

Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times.

June 19, 2025, 5:30 a.m. ET

Summer isn’t wasting any time.

A “significant and extremely dangerous heat wave” is expected to send temperatures soaring across much of the United States in the coming days, stretching from the Central Plains to the East Coast, according to forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center.

“This will certainly be the first big heat wave of 2025 for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, as well as a large portion of the Midwest,” said Alex Lamers, a forecaster with the center, a part of the National Weather Service.

Temperatures at the end of spring have been relatively mild across the East. Mr. Lamers warned that those cooler-than-normal temperatures may mean that this sudden first burst of extreme heat is all the more dangerous because people in many areas have not acclimated to it yet.

Forecast risk of unhealthy heat for Friday

When will the heat arrive?

The warmer temperatures have been trapped over the West for a little while, but on Thursday the warm air mass accompanying them will begin moving east.

The Central Plains and Upper Midwest, from Texas up through Minnesota, will begin to heat up on Friday. By Saturday, the heat will have reached the East Coast, stretching all the way from Denver to Washington, D.C.