United States: An intense heat wave that is intensifying in the western part of the country extends with record-breaking temperatures to new areas and still remains in the areas that it affected on Thursday, thus posing life-threatening heat risks.
A dangerous heat wave is expanding into new areas of the West and lingering in others Friday, bringing with it record-breaking temperatures and a serious risk of heat-related illness.
In California, people were shocked to experience a heatwave with temperatures reaching 122 degrees in Death Valley, breaking the records for the highest temperatures seen in a single day since 1996.
Finally, in Fresno, a new one was set on Thursday, with the mercury hitting 107, tying with the record high set 121 years ago, CNN reports stated.
Phoenix has been recording heat, with the year’s first 110-degree or above high observed when it reached 113 degrees on Thursday, a record high.
Temperatures in Nevada’s Las Vegas rose to 111 F on Thursday, which is the earliest that it got that hot in the entire year and the record highest in the day was 110 F in 2010.
Health-related illnesses looming across the US
Six individuals thought to be migrants perished from the heat in the past week from the area on the US border of Texas to New Mexico’s Sunland Park, as reported by the US Border Patrol and the fire department of New Mexico.
According to the US Border Patrol, El Paso Sector, four people died “from heat stroke and dehydration” while triple-digit temperatures baked the area last weekend, as CNN reported.
Two more individuals were found in a desert area some six miles from the campus and border and were declared dead on Wednesday, as reported by Sunland Park fire chief Daniel Medrano to CNN.
Sunland Park is approximately ten miles north-westerly of El Paso, Texas lies at the border of New Mexico and Mexico.
Heat truly remains the most deadly form of weather in the US, as we are informed by the National Weather Service.
The weather service reported, “This is especially true in the urban centers, where population density, the urban heat island, and building construction exacerbate the effects of excessive heat,” as CNN reported.
It added, “A combination of high heat and humidity can lead to heat-related illness, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.”
More cases of heat-related challenges
In the East, a 59-year-old man from Prince George’s County in Maryland died due to complications attributed to heat on Wednesday, officials reported. More information regarding the man’s death, which was declared the first case of heat-related death in the state this year, was not disclosed.
Heat posed a problem for the fire departments combating a fire in California’s Napa County on Wednesday. Several firefighters had to be transported to local facilities with injuries resulting from challenging ground and hot “hot summer conditions,” as identified by CAL Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit. All four are expected to regain normalcy fully.