Death Valley hits 130 degrees Fahrenheit: 30 million under heat alerts across the West

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More than 30 million Americans underwent severe heat warnings or warnings across the West on Saturday, as forecasters warned of record-high temperatures.

Note: McCarran International Airport tied the highest temperature in Las Vegas ever of 117 degrees Fahrenheit Saturday night, according to a National Weather Service statement. Flights were canceled at the airport on Friday as the temperature hit 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

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California’s Death Valley reached 129.4 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday and 130 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday, with the NWS warning it could hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit again Sunday — some of the highest temperatures reliably recorded on Earth. , is in the process of examining whether last year’s 130 degrees Fahrenheit temperature in Death Valley was the highest temperature recorded on Earth since at least 1931, the Washington Post notes.

What else’s going on: The California Energy Regulatory Authority and the Nevada Public Energy Utility have asked people to conserve energy, as triple-digit heat has been projected across states.

Heat and winds caused a massive fire in Northern California’s Plumas National Forest known as the Beckworth Complex, which “generated its own lightning,” the Los Angeles Times reports. It was 8% contained on Saturday. The other fire in the complex, the Dota fire, destroyed 670 acres and was 80% contained after it caught on June 30, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Our thought bubble, via Andrew Freedman of Axios: The ongoing heat wave is the latest in a string of extreme heat events hitting the West so far in spring and summer. In a fierce reaction, extreme dehydration helps raise temperatures higher, while heat exacerbates dehydration at the same time.

Human-caused climate change increases the likelihood and intensity of heat waves like this one. This week’s study of the Pacific Northwest thermal event concluded that it would have been “almost” possible without global warming.

For the record: North America experienced its hottest June on record last month, as a deadly heat wave hit the Pacific Northwest.

Dive deeper: the extreme heat has killed an estimated one billion small marine creatures

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with temperature details for Las Vegas and Death Valley.

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