LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Swaths of the United States (US) home to more than 80 million people were under heat warnings or advisories on Sunday, as relentless, record-breaking temperatures continued to bake western and southern states.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of “a widespread and oppressive heat wave” in parts of the Southwest, western Gulf Coast and southern Florida, with sizzling temperatures carrying into the coming week raising health risks for millions.
Southern Californians, who saw thermometers peak 41-43 degrees Celsius (°C) on Saturday, faced a second day of similarly brutal temperatures on Sunday, with the mercury expected to top 46°C in parts of California, Nevada and Arizona, the NWS said.
By Sunday afternoon, California’s famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached the near-record temperature of 52°C. Tourists visited the national park to get a glimpse of what the NWS warned would be “life-threatening daytime heat” set to last until tonight.
Visitor Eliana Luna told broadcaster MSNBC on Sunday the heat felt like a “burning sensation” on her body.
“The heat, you can feel it dripping through the back, all the way down,” she said. The NWS has said heat is the leading weather-related killer in the US and urged Americans to take the risk seriously.
“In total, from South Florida and the Gulf Coast to the Southwest, over 80 million people remain under either an Excessive Heat Warning or Heat Advisory as of early this morning,” the NWS said in a Sunday morning bulletin.
The day before, the town of Idyllwild, east of Los Angeles and some 1,645 metres above sea level, blew past its previous record to reach 37 °C. Authorities have been sounding the alarm for days, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to avoid dehydration, which can quickly become fatal in such temperatures.
In Arizona, the state capital Phoenix has recorded 17 straight days above 42°C, as temperatures hit 45°C on Sunday afternoon.
The city, home to over 1.6 million people, is under an Excessive Heat Warning until tomorrow evening, according to the NWS, which said the record seven-day average was likely to be broken.
Volunteers have been organised to direct Phoenix residents to cooling centres and distribute bottles of water and hats, but programme head David Hondula told the local ABC station that its three-days-per-week schedule is “clearly… not enough”.
