The storm that killed at least four people in Houston and barreled through New Orleans into northern Florida late last week has ties to a record-shattering, relentless heat wave anchored over Central America.

Why it matters: With extreme weather events, particularly in this era of rapid climate change, seemingly disparate events thousands of miles apart can be closely connected, with one triggering or intensifying another.

By the numbers: The formation has helped to cause already hotter-than-average ocean temperatures across the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico to increase further, raising temperatures of adjacent land areas even more in a positive feedback loop.


  • Key West, Fla., for example, has set records for hitting a heat index of nearly 115°F, while Miami saw its third-highest heat index reading on record Saturday, with all of the other historical records occurring during July and August.
  • Miami's heat index on Saturday hit 112°F, the highest on record for the month of May, crushing the previous milestone by 5°F.
  • It equaled that on Sunday, which was only the second time two back-to-back days with such high heat and humidity had occurred there (the other instance was in August of last year.)