More than 161 million people are under heat alerts due to extreme weather warnings and health concerns.
The western United States is still reeling from a heatwave that authorities estimate has killed at least seven people and prompted safety warnings for much of the country.
Extreme heat has led to record-breaking heatwaves across the West, raising concerns about the impacts of the climate crisis.
Las Vegas, Nevada, is expected to break its previous record on Wednesday, hitting 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 degrees Celsius) for the fourth straight day.
It comes after the city’s heat reached 48.8C (120F) on Sunday, breaking the previous single-day record of 46.6C (116F) for 2021.
“This is the worst heat wave in Las Vegas since 1937,” said John Ader, a meteorologist who has worked for the National Weather Service office in southern Nevada for 30 years.
Local resident Alice Sobosan said this July was the hottest she’s had in 15 years of living in Las Vegas. “It’s just so damn hot,” she told The Associated Press. “It’s like you can’t live your life.”
Health authorities stressed that the heat can pose serious health risks.
“Even seemingly healthy people of average age can get heat illness when it’s so hot that it’s hard for the body to cool down,” said Alexis Brignola, an epidemiologist with the Southern Nevada Health District.
Heat records have also been set in the northwest in Oregon and Washington in recent days, with temperatures topping 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) in Portland and 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius) in Salem and Eugene.
The Oregon medical examiner said Tuesday that at least six people are believed to have died from heat-related illnesses.
A motorcyclist died Saturday from heat exposure in Death Valley National Park in California, where temperatures reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit.
In both states, dry, hot weather has fueled wildfires, including the Larch Creek Fire in Oregon, which quickly grew to more than 12 kilometers (5 square miles) by Tuesday evening.
Firefighters in California battled at least 18 wildfires on Tuesday, including one that covered 42 square miles (109 km2) and forced the evacuation of about 200 homes in mountainous Santa Barbara County.
Fallout from Hurricane Beryl
The heatwave comes in June, the month that broke global monthly record high temperatures for the 13th consecutive month.
More than 161 million people across the U.S. were under heat advisories on Tuesday.
The threat was particularly acute in South Texas, where more than a million people were without power following Hurricane Beryl, with the city of Houston particularly hard hit.
On Tuesday, a day after the storm made landfall, President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration, opening up federal resources to the state.
“Our biggest concern right now is the power outages and the extreme heat that is affecting Texans,” Biden said in a statement. He noted that extreme heat deaths are high in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that at about 1,220 people die each year.
“As you know, extreme heat kills more Americans than all other natural disasters combined,” he said.
At least one person was killed in Louisiana and six in Texas when Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane. This comes after the storm slammed into the Caribbean, killing at least 11 people.
