If you’re planning to have a July 4 cookout in Centrelia or Boonville, Mo. this year, that’s fine, but don’t plan on seeing any fireworks.
A number of Missouri cities have cancelled their fireworks celebrations, as the state suffers from a drought, while extreme heat conditions are expected on the day.
Other activities, including town parades, are not currently affected. Some cities that have snuffed out the fireworks show say they’ll attempt to reschedule them at another date (in some cases as late as September), while others, such as the city of Eldon, have not yet decided it that will take place.
Parts of Missouri are in a state of “extreme drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, while much of the state is in a state of severe drought. Heat indexes are expected to reach as high as 110 degrees on Friday, per the National Weather Service. Temperatures are expected to moderate somewhat between now and Tuesday, but will still be in the mid-90s.
Forecasters warned going into this summer that this could be one for the record books, thanks to the formation of an El Nino, which is adjusting weather patterns around the country.
“We just had the eight warmest years on record, even though we had a cooling La Niña for the past three years and this acted as a temporary brake on global temperature increase,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in a statement last month. “The development of an El Niño will most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records.”
