The National Weather Service kept heat advisories active Saturday for parts of Oklahoma and northern California, with the Norman, Oklahoma, office warning of heat-index values up to 105 to 110 and Sacramento-area advisories naming 100 to 105 degree temperatures with moderate and major HeatRisk. [1]

The paper's June 12 brief on World Cup heat plans meeting stadium lines argued that heat safety starts before kickoff, in queues and exposed transit spaces; this brief removes the stadium and keeps the task.

In northern Oklahoma, the advisory covered Kingfisher, Logan, Payne, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Noble, Alfalfa, Major, and Woods counties until 7 pm CDT; in Sacramento's forecast area, it covered parts of Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, and Yuba counties until 11 pm PDT, while a Sunday-to-Tuesday warning covered Butte, Shasta, Tehama, and nearby areas with temperatures up to 110. [1]

The national Weather Service page says hazardous heat continues in the South, Southwest, and central California this weekend and builds across the Pacific Northwest Sunday. [2]

The service journalism is local: water, cooling, shade, neighbor checks, lighter clothing, morning or evening work, and fast action at signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke; HeatRisk matters when it changes the hour you work, travel, or wait, not when it merely decorates a weather map.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago