The desert Southwest and Texas will continue to see daytime highs in the triple digits this week. (CNN Weather)

The long-term forecast looks bleak. The extreme heat could continue into August in some of the hardest-hit areas and even a brief glimmer of cooler hope for some parts of the country headed into the weekend will only mean new areas swelter as a heat dome slides west.

FILE - The Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) is pictured in downtown Chicago, where the air quality has been categorized "unhealthy" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on June 27, 2023. (AP Photo / Claire Savage, file)

Extensive swaths of the northern United States awoke to unhealthy air quality Monday morning or were experiencing it by midafternoon.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency building. (Capitol News Illinois file photo)
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At issue is a policy Illinois has had since the 1970s that allows factories, power plants, and other industries with air pollution emission permits to exceed their emission limits during startups, shutdowns, or malfunctions.

With the roof blown off by severe winds, Brian Patel, owner of the Skyline Motel in the suburban town of McCook, Ill., for the past 30 years, surveys storm damage in one of the motel rooms, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune via AP)

No injuries were reported when Wednesday’s storms ripped roofs from buildings and toppled trees in the Chicago area and points west. One tornado touched down near O’Hare Airport, sending passengers dashing for shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights.

Damage is seen to the Sinnott Tree Service building in McCook, Ill., Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh)

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch until 10 p.m. Wednesday for the Chicago area. Tornado warnings were issued for several regions.

Armand Cann, fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, left, and Brad Semel, engaged species recovery specialist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, walk along a protected site at Montrose Beach ahead of the release of three plovers on July 12, 2023. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Three endangered piping plover chicks were released into the wild Wednesday at a protected site at Montrose Beach in an effort to aid in its species recovery. It marks the first time plovers have been released in the state.

Flooded streets in Chicago are pictured on July 2, 2023. (Paris Schutz / WTTW News)
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Residents on the West side of the city and its surrounding suburbs were hit particularly hard by flooding. Some areas saw as much as 8 inches of rainfall on July 2, leading to flash floods and extensive property damage.

(WTTW News)
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“The goal here is for us to think about how the cumulative impact data can help change policy and operations across city departments,” said Angela Tovar, Chicago’s chief sustainability officer.

(Gavin Wright / Shedd Aquarium)

For the first time in eight years, there’s a rockhopper penguin chick at the Shedd Aquarium.

Kayak and canoe outfitter Jessie Fuentes walks along the Rio Grande under a warm sun Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo / Eric Gay, File)
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Heat preparedness has generally improved over the years. Chicago, for example, has expanded its emergency text and email notification system and identified its most vulnerable residents for outreach.

Flooding in Chicago on July 6, 2023. (WTTW News)

The entire city was drenched with torrential rain earlier this week, but residents on the West Side were hit especially hard as more than 8 inches of rain fell in the Austin community and nearby suburbs.

People escape the searing summer heat at Baghdad Aquatic Center in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, July, 6, 2023. (AP Photo / Hadi Mizban)

Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that prominent scientist says could be the hottest in 120,000 years. But it’s also a record with some legitimate scientific questions and caveats.

Flooding is captured in Chicago on July 2, 2023, in Chicago. (Paris Schutz / WTTW News)

As much as 8 inches fell in certain areas over the weekend, followed by major flooding. Areas on the city’s West Side and western suburbs saw over 8 inches on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Corn crops in Illinois are hampered by a June 2023 drought. (Catrina Rawson / Illinois Farm Bureau)

June is expected to go down as one of the 10 driest months in the state’s history. Farmers are already seeing an impact on their crops and consumers are likely to see an impact soon.

A security guard wearing an electric fan on his neck wipes his sweat on a hot day in Beijing, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo / Andy Wong)

Cities across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon to Tampa, Florida have been hovering at all-time highs, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Beijing reported nine straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 95 F.

FILE - A person walks along the shore of Lake Michigan as the downtown skyline is blanketed in haze from Canadian wildfires, June 27, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Kiichiro Sato, File)

Already wildfires are consuming three times more of the United States and Canada each year than in the 1980s, and studies predict fire and smoke to worsen.