Western United States is still on alert for a heat wave Ecology | DW

The United States could break new temperature records when a large area in the West and about 30 million residents are exposed to a heat wave, the second in a few weeks

The thermometer rose this weekend over much of the Pacific coast and inland to the western limit of the Rocky Mountains, with higher forecasts for this Sunday (07/11/2021).

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), Las Vegas has reached an all-time high of 47.2°C, a mark that first hit the city in 1942 and three times since 2005.

Likewise, meteorologists have issued a warning bulletin for the metropolitan area, as well as for several other urban centers, including Phoenix (south) and San Jose, in the middle of Silicon Valley, not far from San Francisco.

“More than 30 million people remain under severe heat alerts or warnings,” the NWS said on Saturday, adding that dangerously high temperatures and dry conditions were expected to continue on Sunday.

This new heat wave comes less than three weeks after another wave hit the western United States and Canada in late June, with record high temperatures for three consecutive days in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The number of deaths from this first wave is not yet known precisely, but is estimated to be in the hundreds.

afp / ap / rr