In Las Vegas, Nevada, the mercury could reach 47.2°C on Sunday, July 6, setting the temperature record ever reached in that city. Palm Spring, in southern California, could get even hotter on Monday, with a high of 48.9°C expected. In the same western state, but much further north, in Redding, we expect a temperature of 48.3°C on Saturday, which would set a record for that city.
All this data (and many others) provided by Washington Post, demonstrate an unusual situation. In fact, the American media summarizes, “one of the worst heat waves on record in the western United States is expected to peak between this weekend and early next week, bringing a brutal and sustained wave of high temperatures to the Southwest, most of California and parts of the Pacific Northwest”.
“Risk of disease and death”
In the famous “Death Valley”, California’s Death Valley (where the world record for the highest temperature was recorded in 1913 at 56.6 °C), meteorologists predict several consecutive days (up to Thursday) with maximum temperatures never below 53.8 °C. ONE “series of hot days” unpublished, it analyses Washington Post, which even estimates that we could in fact also record the highest temperature on record on Tuesday, given that the 1913 measurement may not actually be reliable according to new analysis.
In any case, beyond the records, this situation of prolonged extreme heat, “increases the risk of disease and death”, concerns the progressive daily, according to which, “These temperatures can also strain the power grids”.
Who says great heat also says risk of fires, and it is this danger that worries Los Angeles Times, which induces, “violent winds and abnormally high night temperatures.” Conditions as according to experts “preparing much of the state’s landscape to burn”. The Californian media is already able to compile a list of wildfires that have begun to ravage the region.
It is unfortunately a situation that the western state has become accustomed to in recent years, but this time the fire season seems to have started earlier than expected, surprises meteorologist Ryan Kittell in the columns of Los Angeles Times. “We usually record these temperatures in August, analyzes the expert in conclusion. But even if it was August, we would be at the upper end of possible heat conditions.”
