Las Vegas registered its fifth consecutive day of scorching temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 Celsius) or more on Wednesday (10), amid a prolonged heat wave that is expected to continue affecting much of the U.S. over the weekend.
The temperature rose to 115 F shortly after 1 p.m. at Harry Reid International Airport, breaking the previous record of four consecutive days of high temperatures set in July 2005. And the record could be extended, or even doubled, by the weekend.
Even by desert standards, the prolonged heat that the largest city in Nevada is experiencing is almost unprecedented, with meteorologists calling it “the most extreme heat wave” since the National Weather Service began keeping records in the city in 1937.
The city has already broken 16 heat records since June 1, well before the official start of summer, “and we haven’t even reached the halfway point of July yet,” said meteorologist Morgan Stessman to AP on Wednesday. This includes a historic record of 120 F (48.8 C) set on Sunday (7), which surpassed the previous record of 117 F (47.2 C).
The heat is dangerous, health authorities emphasize. There have been at least nine heat-related deaths this year in Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, according to local officials, who state that the number of victims could be higher.
Persistent Heat Wave in the U.S.
A brutal heat wave that has broken records and caused the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley, California, continues to sweep across the country.
Dozens of locations in the western and northwestern U.S. have broken heat records in recent days, and more than 165 daily high-temperature records could still be broken by the end of the weekend.
Many areas in northern California surpassed 110 degrees on Sunday. A high temperature of 129 degrees was recorded on Saturday and Sunday in Death Valley National Park in eastern California, where one visitor died on Saturday (6) due to heat exposure and another person was hospitalized, officials said.
In New York, temperatures began to rise on Tuesday and will remain elevated in the coming days, with a potential peak of 96 degrees next week.
Source: AP and The New York Times