Extremely high temperatures are a problem for people in western US states, and there are also forest fires. The heat wave is not over yet.
Los Angeles – People in the western United States have to be prepared for extreme heat and forest fires even at the beginning of the week. “The excessive heat will continue in parts of the west,” said the National Weather Service in its forecast for Monday.
Death Valley, California, notorious for its incredible heat, measured 53.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday. That was minimally less than the day before. The heat warning was extended there until Tuesday. In Las Vegas, Nevada, the thermometer rose to 45.6 degrees on Sunday – after 47 degrees on Saturday.
Forest fires claim lives
Because of the high temperatures, the weather service had issued warnings for more than 30 million people in western US states over the weekend. It also got extremely hot in the states of Utah and Arizona.
The western United States had to fight not only with enormous heat, but also with forest fires at the weekend. When an airplane crashed while observing a fire, both crew members were killed in Arizona, according to the authorities. The cause of the crash was initially unknown. Forest fires also spread in the states of Oregon and California. The so-called bootleg fire in Oregon also affected energy supplies to California.
State of emergency in California
California Governor Gavin Newsom had already declared a state of emergency late last week because of the effects of the fire on the energy supply and because of the extreme heat. He had previously called on the residents of the most populous US state to save electricity and water. At the weekend, the emergency rooms in the western United States reported an increase in heat-related illnesses and deaths, according to the Washington Post.
Heat records broken again and again
Only at the beginning of the month did a heat wave hit the northwest of the USA and western Canada with temperatures of almost 50 degrees. 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.
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
