US West Coast suffers “unprecedented” heat wave “Diario La Capital de Mar del Plata

MIAMI.- The west coast of the United States continues to experience a “dangerous and unprecedented” heat wave, which has led to the breaking of many historic high temperature records in various parts of the country, the National Weather Service reported on Saturday. (NWS, in English).

This heat wave continues across much of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, where excessive heat warnings have been issued until Sunday evening.

By then, the NWS anticipates that several temperature records could be broken this Saturday, especially in California, Nevada and Arizona, the states hardest hit by the heatwave and where thermometers will remain well above average. .

On Friday, a nationwide maximum temperature of 51 degrees Celsius was recorded in the Death Valley desert, located in southeastern California.

But in much more populated areas like the populous city of Tucson in southern Arizona, temperatures of up to 45 degrees were recorded this week, four more than in Utah, where 41 degrees matched its all-time high, according to data from the NWS.

Until a cold front gives some relief to part of the west coast of the country on Monday, historical records will continue to be broken and all this while summer has not yet officially started, which will happen next Monday.

Private weather company AccuWeather anticipates that its historic mark of 45 degrees Celsius, established in 1940, in Las Vegas, Nevada, is under threat this Saturday.

Something that has already happened in recent days in several cities in California, such as Indio, where the 48 degrees recorded on Friday left behind the 47 recorded in 1922.

In total, some 40 million people are on “excessive heat alert”, so authorities recommend reducing heat exposure and monitoring symptoms of heat stroke, which can be fatal.

This heat wave has exacerbated the low rainfall situation in that part of the country, and, according to the United States Drought Monitor, current conditions are the most extreme in the past two decades.