American cities have smashed all-time heat records as scorching temperatures grip the country, with 10 percent of the U.S placed under severe weather warnings.
Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest, including Nevada, Palm Springs and Medford tied or broke previous heat records with temperatures well over 100 degrees.
An excessive heat warning, the National Weather Service’s highest alert, is in effect for about 36 million people, or about 10 percent of the population.
The heat wave is set to continue into Monday with temperatures on the East Coast set to soar above 100 degrees.
The dangerous temperatures already caused the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley on Saturday when it hit 128 degrees.
Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest, including Las Vegas, Nevada, Palm Springs, California and Medford, Oregon, tied or broke previous heat records with temperatures well over 100 degrees
The West Coast has so far borne the brunt of the heat wave with Palm Springs, California hitting its hottest ever temperature – 124 degrees on Friday.
Likewise, Las Vegas hit 120 degrees on Sunday, breaking its previous record of 119 degrees and Death Valley reached 127 degrees.
Across the West temperatures are consistently climbing into the 105-118 range, with Medford, Oregon hitting 109 degrees on Friday, smashing its previous record of 102 which had stood for 113 years.
Even San Francisco – which is usually cooled by the ocean – climbed into the high 80s over the weekend.
The high temperatures have already posed a serious health risk which is set to continue this week.
A visitor died in Death Valley National Park from heat exposure on Saturday while another person was hospitalized.
They were both part of the same motorcycle group riding through the Badwater Basin area amid scorching weather.
A person wipes sweat from their brow at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park where someone died on Saturday
People cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip Sunday
The person who died was not identified. The other motorcyclist was transported to a Las Vegas hospital for ‘severe heat illness,’ the statement said.
Due to the high temperatures, emergency medical helicopters were unable to respond, as the aircraft cannot generally fly safely over 120 F (48.8 C), officials said.
The other four members of the party were treated at the scene
Officials warned that heat illness and injury are cumulative and can build over the course of a day or days.
‘Besides not being able to cool down while riding due to high ambient air temperatures, experiencing Death Valley by motorcycle when it is this hot is further challenged by the necessary heavy safety gear worn to reduce injuries during an accident,’ the park statement said.
Triple-digit temperatures were common across Oregon, where several records were toppled, including in Salem, where on Sunday it hit 103 degrees topping the 99 degrees mark set in 1960.
On the more-humid East Coast, temperatures above 100 degrees were widespread, though no excessive heat advisories were in effect for Sunday.
‘Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors,’ read a weather service advisory for the Baltimore area.
‘Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances.’
Rare heat advisories were extended even into higher elevations including around Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada, with the weather service in Reno, Nevada, warning of ‘major heat risk impacts, even in the mountains.’
‘How hot are we talking? Well, high temperatures across (western Nevada and northeastern California) won’t get below 100 degrees (37.8 C) until next weekend,’ the service posted online. ‘And unfortunately, there won’t be much relief overnight either.’
More extreme highs are in the near forecast, including possibly 130 F (54.4 C) around midweek at Furnace Creek, California, in Death Valley.
The high temperatures have already posed a serious health risk which is set to continue this week
A water-dropping helicopter drops on flames from the advancing Lake Fire in Los Olivos, Calif., Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
An egg lays in a small frying pan at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters say a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S., including in Death Valley. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134 degrees in July 1913 in Death Valley, though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 degrees, recorded there in July 2021.
Meanwhile Hurricane Beryl is set to slam Texas with a combination of storm surge, rainfall, and damaging wind gusts Sunday, officials said.
Dangerous flash flooding is possible in some areas, where as much as 8 to 12 inches of rainfall expected.
A few showers have already been spotted, spurring evacuations for some coastal cities like those in Refugio County. There, towns like Bayside, Refugio, and Woodsboro issued mandatory evacuations – accounting for some 6,700 residents.
It most recently savaged Mexico after causing at least 11 deaths in the Caribbean, will make landfall in the US early on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
More than six feet of storm surge could be pushed into areas north of the impact zone near the coastal city of Brownsville.
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