Wildfire smoke, heat and afternoon thunderstorms: It’s the dog days of summer in North America. Here is where the weather could be at its worst this weekend and into next week.

The Swelter

A heat dome is building in the West on Friday, and some areas in the Southwest could break daily records — potentially setting new highs for the month, according to forecasters with the National Weather Service. While this heat isn’t unprecedented for the desert region, it is pushing the upper limits of what feels tolerable in the summer, as daytime temperatures climb into the triple digits.

This Western heat is forecast to drift slowly east over the weekend and move into the Plains early next week.

On the other side of the country — in New York City, the rest of the coastal Northeast and eastern Canada — heat and humidity are creating a wet sauna over the next few days. While the region won’t experience record heat, conditions will certainly be sultry on Friday and through the weekend. The only relief during the hottest portions of the day may be a brief summertime shower.

Summer Storms

Thunderstorms are possible in any of these warm, humid locations. Wherever a storm pops up over the next few days, there is a slight chance it produces damaging winds and excessive rain — a pattern New Yorkers have grown accustomed to this season.

In the Southwest, a monsoon is pumping in enough moisture that thunderstorms are possible in some areas. Where moisture has increased, overnight temperatures should stay high, with some areas failing to drop below 80 degrees at night, Weather Service meteorologists cautioned in their forecast reports Friday morning.

Wildfire risk remains elevated this weekend for areas that have been reeling from them over the last several weeks, especially eastern Washington and Oregon. Thick smoke in the region will continue as long as the fires burn, and various states issued air quality alerts Friday.

Much of this smoke may become trapped with the heat dome in place, limiting its dispersion and maintaining the poor air quality over portions of the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West for the next several days.

Looking Ahead

As of Friday afternoon, the two main hazards for next week were the possibilities of excessive rain in the Midwest and persistent heat across the South. As the week progresses, a new weather pattern is likely to lock in place and bring the worst heat to the Southern United States, from Texas to Florida, with heat in the Southeast possibly peaking the following weekend.

The pattern shift may also moderate temperatures in the Northeast, bringing average to potentially below-average temperatures in a little over a week.