LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas residents used to ignoring the heat are keeping a close eye on the thermometer as the desert city is expected to record its second consecutive day above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday. Prolonged heatwave Extreme heat will continue across much of the U.S. through the weekend.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas again came close to breaking the all-time high temperature of 120 degrees (48.8 degrees) recorded on Sunday, but settled for a new daytime high of 119 degrees (48.3 degrees), beating the previous record of 116 degrees (46.6 degrees) set on the same day in 2021. Forecasters said Wednesday was likely to be the city’s fifth consecutive day above 115 degrees (46.1 degrees).
Even by desert standards, the extended burning that Nevada’s largest city is experiencing is nearly unprecedented.
“This is the most extreme heat wave recorded in Las Vegas since 1937,” said John Adair, a meteorologist with 30 years of experience with the National Weather Service in Southern Nevada.
People cool off with mist sprayers along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Tuesday’s high temperature tied the previous record of four consecutive days above 115 degrees (46.1 C), set in July 2005. Adair said the record could last through Friday.
Alice Sobosan said this July was the hottest she’s seen in the 15 years she’s lived in Las Vegas. A charter school counselor who’s on summer vacation, Sobosan said she tries to avoid going outside during the day as much as possible and waits until after 9 p.m. to walk her dog.
“It’s so muggy,” she says. “It’s like I can’t live life.”
Health officials also stressed that temperatures are dangerously high.
“Even seemingly healthy people of average age can get heatstroke if they’re too hot and can’t cool themselves down,” said Alexis Brignola, an epidemiologist with the Southern Nevada Health Department.
The heatwave that hit large swaths of the US also led to record daytime heat. high temperature In Oregon, it is suspected of causing six deaths, the state medical examiner’s office said Tuesday. 161 million Extreme heat warnings were issued across the U.S. on Tuesday, especially in western states.
Dozens of locations across the West tied or broke previous heat records over the weekend and are expected to continue doing so this week.
The heat held responsible for the death of a motorcyclist That phenomenon was evident over the weekend in Death Valley National Park, where tourists lined up to have their photos taken in front of a giant thermometer showing 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday.
Simon Pell and Lisa Gregory, from London, left their air-conditioned RV to experience sweltering midday heat that would be unthinkable back home.
Matt Fiedler poses for a photo with his daughter Sally Fiedler, left, and his wife, Cecelia Fiedler, next to a thermometer at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley, California, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ty O’Neill)
“You don’t need a thermometer to know it’s hot,” Pell said. “You hear about it in stories and wildlife documentaries, but for me, I wanted to experience what it felt like. … It’s an incredible experience.”
Death Valley is considered one of the world’s harshest environments. The highest officially recorded temperature on Earth was 134°F (56.67°C), recorded in Death Valley in July 1913, though some experts dispute that measurement and claim the actual record is 130°F (54.4°C), recorded in July 2021.
Parts of Oregon and Washington also broke daily temperature records on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) in Portland and 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius) in Salem and Eugene. Triple-digit temperatures were also recorded in Idaho.
In Phoenix, the average temperature for the first eight days of July is the highest ever recorded since 1885, tying the previous daytime high of 116 degrees (46.6 C) set in 1958 on Tuesday.
Reno, Nevada, recorded a high of 106 degrees (41.1 degrees) on Tuesday, breaking the previous daytime high record of 104 degrees (40 degrees) set in 2017 and marking four days with temperatures above 105 degrees (40.5 degrees). Until this week, the city, which is at an elevation of 4,500 feet (1,372 meters), had never experienced more than two consecutive days of highs that were that hot in records dating back to 1888.
The US heat wave comes as global temperatures hit their warmest on record in June. 13 consecutive months It’s the 12th consecutive month that global temperatures have been 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial levels, according to the European meteorological agency Copernicus. Scientists say most of this heat trapped by human-made climate change is due to long-term warming from greenhouse gases emitted by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
People protect their eyes from the sun along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Las Vegas hotels and casinos are keeping visitors cool with giant air conditioners, but to serve homeless residents and those without access to a safe environment, officials have set up emergency cooling centers in community centers across Southern Nevada.
Firefighters in Henderson, Nevada, last week became the first in the region to deploy what city spokeswoman Madeleine Skines called “polar pods,” devices used to cool people showing symptoms of heat stroke or related medical emergencies.
Skyns said four vehicles, including the battalion chief’s, in the city of more than 330,000 residents are equipped with equipment similar to the units first used. 1 month ago PhoenixYou can put water and ice inside and immerse the patient in cold water on the way to the hospital.
Extreme heat and prolonged drought in the West are drying out vegetation that can fuel wildfires.
A new fire in Oregon, named the Larch Creek Fire, raged through grasslands in Wasco County on Tuesday evening and quickly grew to more than five square miles (12 square kilometers). Evacuation orders were issued for remote homes about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of The Dalles.
In California, firefighters were battling at least 18 wildfires on Tuesday, including a 42-square-mile (109-square-kilometer) blaze in the mountains of Santa Barbara County that prompted evacuations of about 200 homes. The Lake Fire is only 16 percent contained, and forecasters warned of a “volatile combination” of high temperatures, low humidity and northwest winds later in the day.
This satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows the active fire line of the Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County, California, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
Northeast of Los Angeles, the 2-square-mile (5-square-kilometer) Vista Fire burned trees in the San Bernardino National Forest and sent up a huge plume of smoke that was visible across the region.
The National Weather Service said it was extending an extreme heat warning for much of the southwestern U.S. until Saturday morning.
“It’s not over yet,” he said at the Reno service.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Anita Snow in Phoenix, Ty O’Neill in Death Valley, California, Rio Yamato in Las Vegas, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada and Gabe Stern in Nevada contributed to this report.
