Texas’ relentless heat wave has been blamed for nearly a dozen deaths in the west side of the state. Nine Webb County deaths have been linked to the heat, which the county’s medical examiner called “unprecedented”—even with the region’s already-high average temperatures. On Monday, an additional two lives were claimed by the climate: a Florida man and his 14-year-old son, who both died after hiking in Big Bend National Park on a 119-degree day. But Wednesday is expected to be the heat wave’s peak, with a heat index as high as 115 expected in some of the state’s most populous regions, and Texas slated to be hotter than 99 percent of the world. Fortunately, after days of brutal, inescapable weather, the temperature is expected to drop going into the weekend, a National Weather service meteorologist said Wednesday.
