(Las Vegas) Accustomed to ignoring the heat, Las Vegas residents are now keeping their eyes glued to the thermometer as the desert city is on pace to set a record Wednesday for the most consecutive days above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 degrees Celsius) amid a persistent heat wave that will continue to roast much of the United States through the weekend.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas again flirted with Sunday’s record high of 48.8 C, but settled for a new daily high of 48.3 C, which shattered the previous record of 46.6 C set on the same date in 2021. Forecasters say the city will likely hit a fifth consecutive day above 46.1 C on Wednesday.
Even by desert standards, the prolonged baking in Nevada’s largest city is nearly unprecedented.
“This is the most extreme heat wave recorded in Las Vegas since 1937,” said meteorologist John Adair, who has worked for three decades at the National Weather Service office in southern Nevada.
Tuesday’s maximum temperature equalled the mark of four consecutive days above 46.1 C set in July 2005. Adair said that record could be extended to Friday.
Health officials have insisted it is dangerously hot.
“Even middle-aged people who are apparently healthy can suffer from heat-related illnesses when it is so hot that the body has difficulty cooling itself,” warned Alexis Brignola, an epidemiologist with the Southern Nevada Health District.
The scorching heat wave gripping much of the United States has also brought record daily temperatures to Oregon, where it is suspected to have caused six deaths, the state medical examiner’s office said Tuesday. More than 161 million people in the United States were on heat alert Tuesday, particularly in Western states.
The return of scorching heat to the Houston area has worsened the situation for people still without power since the hurricane Beryl has hit Texas, leaving residents searching for places to cool off and recharge as prolonged outages strain one of the nation’s largest cities.
More than 1.7 million homes and businesses were still without power Wednesday morning, down from a peak of more than 2.7 million Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.
On Tuesday, highs in the Houston area again topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity that made it feel even hotter. Similar heat and humidity are expected Wednesday. The National Weather Service called the conditions potentially dangerous due to the lack of power and air conditioning.
Death Valley
Dozens of Western communities broke or tied heat records over the weekend and are expected to continue doing so throughout the week.
Heat has been blamed for the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley National Park. On Tuesday, tourists lined up in Death Valley to take photos in front of a giant thermometer reading 55 C.
Death Valley is considered one of the most extreme environments in the world. The highest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 56.67 C in July 1913 in Death Valley, although some experts dispute this measurement and claim that the real record is 54.4 C, recorded in July 2021 in the same location.
Records were also set Tuesday in parts of Oregon and Washington state, with Portland hitting 39.4 C (102.4 F) and Salem and Eugene 40.5 C (104.7 F). Temperatures of at least 38 C (100.4 F) were also recorded in Idaho.
Phoenix, which averaged the highest temperature on record during the first eight days of July since 1885, on Tuesday tied the daily record of 46.6 C set in 1958.
The maximum temperature of 41.1 C recorded Tuesday in Reno, Nevada, broke the daily record of 40 C set in 2017 and extended to four days the longest streak of temperatures of 40.5 C or higher. Before this week, at an elevation of 1,372 meters, the city had not seen such heat for more than two consecutive days since 1888.
The US heatwave comes as global temperatures in June hit a record high for the 13the consecutive month and marked the 12the consecutive month in which the world has been 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than in pre-industrial times, the European Union’s Copernicus climate service said. Scientists say most of that heat, trapped by human-caused climate change, comes from long-term warming caused by greenhouse gases emitted by burning coal, oil and natural gas.
In Las Vegas, hotels and casinos cool visitors with massive air conditioners. But for the homeless and others who don’t have access to a safe environment, officials have set up emergency cooling centers at community centers across Southern Nevada.
Last week, firefighters in Henderson, Nevada, became the first in the region to deploy what city spokeswoman Madeleine Skains called “polar pods” used to cool someone exhibiting symptoms of heatstroke or a related medical emergency.
Mme Skains said four vehicles, including those of battalion chiefs in the city of more than 330,000, were equipped with the devices, similar to those first used a month ago in Phoenix. They can be filled with water and ice to submerge a patient in cold water on the way to the hospital.
Extreme heat and long-term drought in the West have also dried out vegetation that fuels wildfires.
A new wildfire in Oregon, dubbed the Larch Creek Fire, quickly spread to more than 5 square miles Tuesday night, with flames ripping through grasslands in Wasco County. Evacuations were ordered for isolated homes about 15 miles south of The Dalles.
In California, firefighters were battling at least 18 wildfires Tuesday, including a 42-square-mile (109-square-kilometer) blaze that prompted evacuation orders for about 200 homes in the mountains of Santa Barbara County. The Lake Fire was only 16% contained, and forecasters warned of a “volatile combination” of high heat, low humidity and northwest winds developing late in the day.
Northeast of Los Angeles, the 2-square-mile Vista Fire devoured trees in the San Bernardino National Forest and caused a huge plume of smoke visible throughout the region.
The National Weather Service said it was extending excessive heat warnings across much of the southwestern United States through Saturday morning.
“It’s not over yet,” Reno’s department warned.