RECORD HEAT SIZZLES SIN CITY.
Residents have been asked to conserve energy
Sin City soared to a searing 47 degrees Celsius Saturday, matching its highest temperature ever observed amid a punishing heat wave that will continue in the West into early this week.
More than 30 million people were under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories Sunday, including most of interior California, much of Nevada, western Arizona and Utah, southeast Oregon and southern Idaho.
Extreme heat will continue in the region through Tuesday or Wednesday, though the intensity will slowly ease.
Las Vegas was among several locations that matched or topped all-time highs in the Southwest on Saturday. St. George, about 190 kilometres northeast of Las Vegas in southwest Utah, reached 47 degrees, preliminarily tying Utah's all-time temperature record.
Utah is potentially the third state to match an alltime mark in two weeks. Oregon and Washington state equalled their all-time highs during the “unprecedented” Pacific Northwest heat wave at the end of June.
In addition to Las Vegas and Utah, Death Valley hit 54.1 degrees, its third-highest temperature in more than a century, just one day after it hit 54.4 degrees (Friday), its highest temperature since 1913.
Amid the blistering heat on Saturday, California's power regulator and Nevada Energy asked residents to conserve energy by adjusting thermostats and reducing use of appliances.
The heat wave afflicting the West is the third in three weeks, after the event in the Pacific Northwest at the end of June and a record-setting blast in the Southwest in the middle of the month; together, they vaulted the nation to its hottest June on record.
The National Weather Service in Las Vegas wrote that temperatures are again likely to “rival or challenge all-time records.”
“Today (Sunday) is probably the last day where reaching or exceeding the all-time Las Vegas records is possible, with slight cooling expected Monday as heights begin to slowly decline,” it wrote. “Similarly, best chance for 130 or higher in Death Valley will be today, before chances dwindle next week.”
While temperatures in California's Central Valley may fall shy of all-time records, the Weather Service is still warning of dangerously hot conditions. “Very high heat risk is expected again today due to the combination of warm overnight lows and hot afternoon temperatures,” wrote the Weather Service in Sacramento.
Temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will remain above normal in the Southwest but will back off gradually from record-setting territory. The heat dome, or zone of high pressure responsible for the sweltering temperatures, is forecast to weaken while the summer monsoon strengthens.