The National Weather Service reported that a slow-moving heat wave with the potential to break records is sweeping over the Western United States, prompting many locals to look for a cool refuge from the dangerously high temperatures. The intense heat and humidity are predicted to persist through Saturday in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic areas of the United States.
The National Weather Service predicted that several parts of the West Coast will see temperatures between 15 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit (8 and 16 degrees Celsius) above average. Widespread temperature records are anticipated to be tied or even broken during the heatwave.
“The duration of this heat is also concerning as scorching above average temperatures are forecast to linger into next week,” the weather service said. In the Portland, Oregon, suburb of Gresham, Sherri Thompson, 52, was waiting in her car with her 14-year-old chihuahua Kiwani for a cooling centre to open late Friday morning. Thompson has lived in her car for three years and can only run its air conditioning for about 20 minutes at a time as it causes the engine to overheat. Thompson said the high temperatures prompted health concerns, as she had been hospitalised for a heat stroke in the past. “I have anxiety and panic attacks and I get worried. I don’t want to have another heat stroke, and everything just triggers my anxiety a lot,” she said.
Inside the air conditioned centre, Multnomah County spokesperson Julia Comnes oversaw county staff and people working with a local homeless services provider as they lined up thin mattresses in rows on the floor and set up cots for people with disabilities. She said the space had capacity for up to 80 people. “Some of the hazards associated with this weekend especially is that it’s still pretty early in the season. We had a pretty cool June, so our bodies aren’t totally acclimated yet to the heat,” she said. “For people living outside or more vulnerable people, the cooling space like this is really important for them to just cool off for a few hours.”
Among extremes, the forecast for Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park calls for daytime highs of 129 degrees (53.8 degrees Celsius) on Sunday, and then around 130 (54.44 C) through Wednesday. The official world record for hottest temperature recorded on Earth was 134 degrees (56.67 C) in Death Valley in July 1913, but some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 recorded there in July 2021.At Bullhead City, Arizona, the temperature already had reached 111 degrees (44.4 C) by 11 a.m. Friday.
In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, while the causes of more than 160 other suspected heat deaths were still under investigation, according to the county’s most recent report on such deaths through June 29.
The blistering weather in the Portland region is expected to last at least through Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Clinton Rockey said. If the triple-digit temperatures (well over 37 degrees Celsius) stretch into Tuesday, then the region will match a record last seen in July 1941, with five consecutive days of more than 100-degree weather, Rockey said. The temperatures aren’t expected to peak as high as they did during a similar heat wave in 2021, which killed an estimated 600 people across Oregon, Washington and western Canada but the duration could pose a problem, Rockey said.
(with inputs from AP)