PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A slow-moving, record-breaking heat wave spread from the Pacific Northwest to Arizona on Friday, shattering records across the West and forcing many residents to seek cooler shelters. Dangerously high temperatures.
The southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States are also experiencing extreme heat, with the extreme heat and humidity expected to continue through Saturday and possibly beyond.
In Death Valley, California, one of the hottest places on Earth, the temperature soared to 127 degrees Fahrenheit (52.8 degrees Celsius), smashing the previous record for the highest temperature on that day by five degrees. The previous record of 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) was set in 2013.
Phoenix recorded a high of 118 degrees (47.7 degrees) that day, with temperatures expected to stay above 115 degrees (46.1 degrees) through Wednesday. In Needles, California, where the National Weather Service has records going back to 1888, the high of 122 degrees (50 degrees) beat the previous record of 121 degrees (49.4 degrees) set in 2007. In Palm Springs, California, it was 124 degrees (51.1 degrees).
The worst is yet to come for much of the West, where temperatures are expected to reach triple digits and 15 to 30 degrees (8 to 16 degrees Celsius) above normal through next week, according to the National Weather Service.
“The above-average heat is expected to continue into next week, and the duration of this heat is of concern,” the National Weather Service in Phoenix said.
“Such heat is dangerous for everyone without proper cooling and hydration,” the weather service said in Las Vegas, where a high of 113 degrees (45 C) was recorded Friday night. “Daily and all-time temperature records will likely be broken at many weather stations.”
In Gresham, Oregon, a suburb of Portland that also recorded a record high of 98 degrees (36.6 Celsius), Shelley Thompson, 52, was in her car with her 14-year-old Chihuahua, Kiwani, waiting for a cooling center to open in the late afternoon.
Thompson has been living in his car for three years and can only run the air conditioner for 20 minutes at a time because it would cause the engine to overheat, and he has even been hospitalized in the past for heatstroke.
“It makes me anxious, it makes me panic attacks, it makes me worry. I don’t want to get heat stroke again and everything just makes me so anxious,” she said.
At least 13 heatstroke deaths have been confirmed this year in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, and more than 160 suspected heatstroke deaths remain under investigation, according to the county’s latest report.
That doesn’t include a 10-year-old boy who died of “heat stroke” in Phoenix earlier this week while hiking with his family in South Mountain Park Preserve, police said.
More extreme high temperatures are expected in the near future, including Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park reaching 129 degrees (53.8 degrees Celsius) on Sunday, before hovering around 130 degrees (54.44 degrees Celsius) through Wednesday. The highest officially recorded temperature on Earth is 134 degrees (56.67 degrees Celsius), recorded in Death Valley in July 1913, although some experts dispute that measurement and claim the actual record is 130 degrees, recorded there in July 2021.
In Bullhead City, Arizona, temperatures had already reached 111 degrees (44.4 C) by 11 a.m. Friday and were expected to reach a high of 118 degrees (47.7 C), prompting officials to open two cooling centers for seniors and others.
“This is a heat wave and we’re urging people to be careful, but unless there’s a power outage, we’re not seeing large numbers of people gathering at cooling centers,” city spokeswoman Mackenzie Covert said. “Our area gets hot every summer, and residents are aware of that to some degree. People tend to have their air conditioners running.”
Kevin Sande, general manager of the Reno Ice Rink in Nevada, said figure skaters had been skating since 6 a.m. as temperatures soared to a high of 102 degrees. By the time the rink closed at 10:30 p.m., Sande expected nearly 300 people to show up, with more parents than usual at the rink to watch their kids’ hockey practice.
“They may not be climbing onto the ice, but they’re enjoying the cool weather,” Sande said. “This is the only place within an hour’s drive where there’s ice.”
In Norfolk, Virginia, Christine Weissenborn set up a table selling sourdough bread at an outdoor farmers market where temperatures were just below triple digits, but with 58 percent humidity, it felt like 114 degrees (46 C), according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s so hot, so I’m just hoping that a lot of people will come out and buy my bread,” said Weisenborn, 42, owner of Virginia Beach-based Crid’s Crumbs Bakery.
“Otherwise we’d just be standing here sweating,” she said, adding that any unsold bread would be donated or frozen.
Despite the sweltering heat, people were already buying her bread when the market opened.
“It’s hot, but it’s July,” Weissenborn added. “I think it’s better than snow.”
___
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Sonar reported from Reno, Nevada. Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, John Antczak in Los Angeles, Rio Yamato in Las Vegas, Dennis Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, and Ben Finely in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed.
