More than 16 million people in the US were under heat alerts on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, mostly clustered in the southern tips of Nevada, Arizona and California.
Las Vegas had its 102nd day of temperatures above 100˚F (37.8˚C) on Friday, a new record for the most days in a single year. Several states, including Arizona and California, have experienced their warmest summers on record this year, and forecasters are predicting that 2024 may rank as the hottest year – a record just set in 2023.
In Arizona’s Maricopa county, home to Phoenix, 664 fatalities are believed to have been linked to the heat this year.