Western US facing a record heatwave
Print Edition
Much of the western United States is braced for record heat waves this week, with approximately 50 million Americans placed on alert on Tuesday for “excessive” temperatures, which could approach 50 degrees Celsius in some areas.
“A prolonged and record-breaking heat wave is underway across the western US,” said the US National Weather Service, with “above normal to extreme high temperatures” expected at least through the weekend.
The heat wave, which stretches like a blob over much of the western third of the US map, extends east to west from Wyoming to California, and north to south from Idaho to Arizona.
Average temperatures in the vast region are around 6 degrees above the seasonal norm, with the arid desert states of Arizona and Nevada most likely to shatter records.
The Arizona city of Phoenix experienced temperatures of 46 degrees Celsius on Monday but forecasters predict it could pass 48 degrees Celsius by the end of the week.
As well as warning that current temperatures are “rare, dangerous and deadly,” officials fear that the heat — arriving so early in the year — could lead to deadly forest fires, aggravated by chronic drought in the American West.
Some 88 percent of the region is in a state of drought, according to the latest government surveys.
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