hit West Texas in the crosshairs The heat wave that baked the Southwest the previous two days is shifting to the central U.S. Starting Tuesday, highs will reach into the 80s from Texas all the way up to the border with Canada, weather.com reported. "Over 30 locations may tie or set new daily record highs Tuesday in the Rockies and Plains," it added, and some areas as far north as Nebraska could reach into the 90s. On Wednesday, West Texas will get blasted by triple-digit heat, forecasters said, worsening the prolonged drought that area has experienced. Midland will feel some of the worst of the heat. "It looks like we're going to break the record" for an April 25, National Weather Service forecaster Jack Ciccone of the Midland office told msnbc.com. The forecast is for 101 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 degrees above the existing record set in 1996. "It is unusual, but it isn't the earliest" triple digit start to April, he added, noting that record was set on April 21, 1989, with 101 degrees F. Lubbock, Texas, could also see record heat and the forecast has prompted concerns about brush and wildfires. A cold front should bring rain over the weekend, Ciccone noted, but drought conditions won't see much improvement. "It's not something you can overcome in a few heavy rainstorms," he said. It's going to take a long time to recover. "Water's in scarce supply here," he added, noting that farmers and ranchers are being hit hardest. The reservoirs and lakes are very low to record low levels in West Texas. In North Texas, a mild winter and warm spring has led snakes to become active about six weeks earlier than usual, NBCDFW.com reported. Three snake bite victims already have been treated at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, the NBC affiliate noted. The hospital typically sees about nine cases for an entire year.