AUSTIN, Texas – The southern tier of the U.S. is about to enter the deep fryer as temperatures are expected to soar into the triple-digits in some spots this week.

Record-breaking heat across Central Texas is expected, with Austin and San Antonio possibly seeing their hottest May temperatures ever. The FOX Forecast Center warns that hundreds of daily records are likely to be surpassed by the time this heat wave peaks between Tuesday and Thursday.

For many locations west of Interstate 35 and south of Interstate 20, temperatures will likely exceed 100 degrees, marking the first real taste of summer this year. Even the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex is forecast to reach this sweltering milestone.

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The FOX Forecast Center notes that a large ridge of high pressure building over the region is causing this early and intense heat. 

“This is the type of weather that we anticipate at the end of July, beginning of August, not May,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. 

Austin’s average first 100-degree day is typically around July 11, but the city is now forecast to reach that mark as early as Tuesday.

“We’re losing like two months of comfortable air,” Merwin notes.

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The extreme heat will likely trigger the need for Heat Advisories or even Extreme Heat Warnings, especially on Wednesday and Thursday, when the worst of the heat will be felt. 

“So please be careful out there,” Merwin cautioned. “Drink water and use all the precautions that you use in summer right now because you certainly will need it.”

Some relief may come by the end of the week, but temperatures will likely remain in the 90s through the weekend and potentially still set record highs. 

This surge of heat will also work in tandem with the next severe storm threat. Some of the record heat will make it into the Midwest, helping fuel the return of severe weather midweek and eventually across the Tennessee Valley into Friday.