Normally during this time of year, a few bulbs would be starting to unfurl. Instead, Mr. McGinty said, “every fruit on the plant is open, and they shouldn’t be. The heat is just shutting the plants down. They’re in survival mode at this point.” But even that, he said, is better than last year, when the cotton crop suffered even more because of droughts.
Farther east, residents of Southern states are bracing for a long spell of hot and muggy days. Heat indexes, which measure how hot it feels outside while accounting for both temperature and humidity, were expected to surpass 100 degrees this week in many cities including Jackson, Miss., Montgomery, Ala., and Tallahassee, Fla.
On Monday afternoon, Ralph Horton was driving east along Interstate 20 to his home Tallapoosa, Ga., when he stopped in Vicksburg, Miss., for a break.
He was traveling from Texas, where he had spent a few days. “Oh my gosh, it was hot,” he said.
On Monday, he stood on an overlook with a view of the Mississippi River, anticipating a different kind of heat — the kind that is oppressive even when the temperatures don’t reach triple digits. “The humidity is killer in this part of the country,” Mr. Horton said.
The spot where he stood was already under a heat advisory, with heat indexes forecast to reach around 110 degrees on Tuesday.
Reporting was contributed by Maggie Miles, Jack Healy and Sheryl Kornman.
