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National

An extreme, prolonged heat wave from Texas to Louisiana is helping fuel deadly southern storms that have resulted in the deaths of at least six people and left hundreds of thousands without power.

State of play: A series of tornadoes hit Mississippi overnight, killing at least one person, wounding almost two dozen others and leaving over 49,000 without power, officials said. The severe weather also caused outages for nearly 187,000 people in Oklahoma, almost 79,000 others in Texas and some 69,000 in Louisiana as of Monday evening, per utility tracker poweroutage.us. 

An estimated 26,000 people in Arkansas also experienced outages, where a flash flood emergency was issued in the state's southwest:

A screenshot of an NWS Mobile, Alabama, tweet about a flash flood emergency, saying: "SIGNFICANT FLASH FLOODING OCCURING! Significant flash flooding occurring across southern Mobile and Southern Baldwin counties. Heavy rainfall approaching 10+ inches over the past 4 hours. Heavy rainfall rates will lead to rapid water rises with water already entering buildings."

Threat level: Some 30 million people were under excessive heat warnings, with millions of others under heat advisories, as the National Weather Service warned triple-digit temperatures would lead to critical fire weather conditions in parts of the Southwest in the coming days.

This includes in New Mexico, where firefighters are already battling a large fire, and Arizona, where Phoenix on Sunday recorded its hottest temperature of the year so far — 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

The NWS said Monday evening this "blistering" heat wave with excessive heat warnings and advisories would continue affecting Texas, Louisiana and the vicinity over the coming days.

"Meanwhile, strong to severe thunderstorms and heavy to excessive rainfall will be common the next few days in the Southeastern quadrant of the U.S. Gusty winds will impact parts of the West," the NWS added.

The big picture: The heat wave has triggered a series of storms across the southern U.S. since Thursday, when a tornado in Perryton in the Texas Panhandle killed three people.

One person died during severe weather in Mississippi on Friday in Madison County, just over 30 miles north of Jackson, and another was killed during a suspected tornado event in Escambia County, Florida, Thursday.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency for northern and central parts of the state on Saturday in response to the storm-related outages and in anticipation of more thunderstorms Sunday. The storm threat isn't over for the state.

Zoom in: A front over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida "will create showers and severe thunderstorms over the area" and it could bring "frequent lightning, severe thunderstorm wind gusts, hail, and a few tornadoes" through Tuesday, per the NWS. 

Central Texas was also at risk of severe thunderstorms.

Driving the news: The severe weather is due to a highly unusual summer setup with a branch of the jet stream screaming across the south, helping to trigger severe storms with large hail, strong straight-line winds and tornadoes.

Typically the jet stream is located well north this time of year.

By the numbers: Heat indices have reached 120 degrees in Texas and Louisiana, and the heat index in Kingsville in the south of the Lone Star State hit 125°F on Thursday.

Of note: What's particularly unusual is the extent of 80°F dew points, leaving the air feeling extremely sultry. More humid heat can be tied in part to warmer-than-average waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Context: Climate change is causing heat waves to be more intense, longer-lasting and more frequent.

It's also resulting in more intense extreme precipitation events due to a warmer atmosphere that can hold more water vapor — providing added moisture and energy to storm systems.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

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Heat wave fuels deadly storms and power outages across southern U.S.

Some 30 million people are under excessive heat warnings and millions of others are under heat advisories.

The wind blows the pages of a salvaged prayer book in a tornado-damaged neighborhood on June 19, 2023 in Louin, Mississippi. There were multiple confirmed tornadoes overnight in Mississippi that left at least one person killed and 25 injured during the storms. 

The wind blows the pages of a salvaged prayer book in a tornado-damaged Louin, Mississippi, on Monday. Photo: Michael DeMocker/Getty Images

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Black Lives Matter murals painted nearly three years ago on blocked-off city streets across America after the murder of George Floyd are getting paved over or worn away by traffic.

Why it matters: The bright, block-spanning declarations became commonplace on streets quieted by the pandemic — but the return of rush hours and declining support for the Black Lives Matter movement have made them difficult to maintain.

A BLM mural installed outside Trump Tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue — which then-President Trump branded "a symbol of hate" — has largely faded away in the intervening years.

Charlotte's colorful BLM mural also faded away over time after the city opened up the street to traffic in late 2020.

A BLM mural along a popular section of the Atlanta Beltline has faded in part because the slogan was done as a community project and does not have a maintenance plan by the city, a BeltLine spokesperson tells Axios Atlanta's Thomas Wheatley.

Austin removed its Black Austin Matters and Black Artists Matter installations, which were first put in place in June 2020, as part of scheduled road resurfacing, a city spokesperson tells Axios Austin’s Asher Price.

Indianapolis' BLM mural was not replaced after the city repaved the street, though crews did attempt to save a piece of each letter for the artists.

Austin Transportation crews touched up the Black Artists Matter mural on East 11th Street in June 2021. Photo: Austin Transportation

Austin Transportation crews touched up the Black Artists Matter mural on East 11th Street in June 2021. Photo: City of Austin

What they're saying: "We legitimately wanted to show solidarity by protest by creating those murals and we inadvertently created a moment and like a sanctuary for people who exist," Dammit Wesley, a curator for the Charlotte mural and its artists, tells Axios.

"But being in a conservative city like Charlotte being in the South just wasn't the right place for that."

Mali Bacon, executive director of GANGGANG, a cultural development and advocacy firm in Indianapolis, tells Axios that the artists who made the mural had conversations about being mentally prepared as they knew it would not be protected after some designs were initially vandalized.

"Not being able to physically or literally see the mural is a wonderful analogy to how we are not able to physically always see the movement of the advocates and of the artists that are still saying the same thing every day," Bacon said.

People take part in a workout class on Washington D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Plaza on Emancipation Day in 2023. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The other side: Some cities have taken steps to refresh their murals — or even make them permanent.

Seattle had its mural repainted last year, and city officials redirected traffic onto the parking lanes around it.

Cars can now similarly drive on Washington D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Plaza — a stretch of 16th Street NW near the White House — but the once-painted mural became a permanent concrete installation in 2021.

A BLM mural in Seattle created by Vivid Matter Collective remains in place. Photo: Kyle Kotajarvi. Courtesy of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

A BLM mural in Seattle created by Vivid Matter Collective remains in place. Photo: Kyle Kotajarvi, Courtesy of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

The bottom line: The Black Lives Matter murals were helpful symbols, but they’re ultimately only as useful as the tangible changes they bring about, Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, an advocacy organization, tells Axios.

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Black Lives Matter street murals are fading away

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