54 degrees Celsius in California’s Death Valley, 47 degrees in Las Vegas: the weekend in the western United States was extremely hot. More than 30 million people were affected by the high temperatures.
Los Angeles – A new heat wave brought extremely high temperatures to the western US states over the weekend. The National Weather Service issued warnings for more than 30 million people: The heat posed a major health risk for them.
In almost all of California and in large parts of Nevada, the highest warning level was applied. Not only the elderly or the sick are considered to be at risk, but everyone. “Try to stay cool (also: cool)!” Wrote the authority on Twitter and called on people to drink enough, to stay in cooled rooms or in the shade. In some places, the heat is said to last until Monday.
According to preliminary information from the National Weather Service, a good 47 degrees Celsius was measured in Las Vegas on Saturday. The thermometer has rarely climbed that high there in the past few decades. In Death Valley, California, notorious for its unbelievable heat, a good 54 degrees were measured. The highest temperature ever recorded there was 56.7 degrees. It also got extremely hot on the weekend in the states of Utah and Arizona.
It was only at the beginning of the month that a heat wave hit the north-west of the USA and western Canada with temperatures of almost 50 degrees. According to the authorities, the heat had contributed to numerous deaths. In the Canadian community of Lytton, around 260 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, 49.6 degrees had been measured – previously the record in Canada was 45 degrees. A few days later, the village was almost completely destroyed in an inferno.
This weekend, the emergency rooms in the western United States reported an increase in heat-related illnesses and deaths, according to the Washington Post. On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom called on residents of the most populous US state to save electricity and water because of rising temperatures and raging forest fires.
According to the US climate agency NOAA, last month was the hottest June in the country since records began 127 years ago, with an average temperature of 22.6 degrees Celsius. Eight states – including California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah, which were hit by the heat wave again this weekend – also experienced their hottest June. dpa
