New extreme heat wave bakes southwestern US
Washington, Jul 11 (EFE).- A new extreme heat wave on the weekend is besetting the southwestern United States, with cities like Las Vegas, Nevada, hitting record high temperatures just after ending one of the hottest months of June since records have been kept.
The temperature at McCarran International Airport, which serves Las Vegas, on Saturday reached 117 degrees F (47 C), according to the National Weather Service.
And in Death Valley, in Southern California’s desert region, the thermometer hit 130 F (54.2 C).
In all, more than 30 million people are located in areas where excessive heat warnings have been issued in Nevada, California and western Arizona and Utah.
The weather service in California warned of the “very high risk” of heat on Sunday due to the combination of moderate temps at night but highs that are expected at midday.
According to the latest forecasts, these temperatures will continue to prevail over the region until this coming Wednesday and will then diminish through the remainder of the week.
As a result, California and Nevada authorities have warned local residents to reduce their energy consumption to prevent failures in the electric grid, a situation that could have dire consequences for the very young and the elderly, in particular, if no air conditioning is available.
This heat wave is occurring just a few days after the northwestern US and far western Canada suffered similar conditions. Cities such as Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia were beset by record high temperatures just days ago.
