The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a heat advisory Thursday for Clarksdale, Coahoma County and most of North Mississippi and Arkansas.
The NWS issued a heat advisory at 10:32 a.m. today until 7 p.m. tonight and has followed that up with an extended hazardous weather outlook, because of the heat, for the next seven days.
Heat index values from 105 to 110 are expected today and probable for the extent of the hazardous weather outlook.
The highest heat index values near 110 are forecast in the Mississippi River Delta Region from Clarksdale, to Memphis to Caruthersville, Tennessee.
The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.
When the body gets too hot, it begins to perspire or sweat to cool itself off. If the perspiration is not able to evaporate, the body cannot regulate its temperature.
Noontime temperatures over the next few days were expected to hover around 90 degrees and could rise above 95 in the afternoon.
People are advised to drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.
Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances.
Extra precautions should be taken by anyone working outdoors. When possible strenuous activities should be done in the morning early morning or evening. Supervisors are expected to know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency and 911 should be called immediately.
Mississippi counties under the heat advisory are: Alcorn, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Coahoma, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Monroe, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union and Yalobusha.
