Scorching heat bakes West, toppling records

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/30/19220516-scorching-heat-bakes-west-toppling-records?lite

By Jeff Black and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News, NBC News
July 1, 2013

An example of just how brutal is the heat wave that grips the American West: at 1 a.m. Monday in Las Vegas, the temperature stood stubbornly at 102 degrees.

A smothering dome of high pressure from Montana to Arizona has immersed the West in dangerous conditions, feeding wildfires and record highs -- with little relief in sight.

The blast of heat is likely to last through the Fourth of July, according to The Weather Channel, with highs ranging from 100 degrees in Spokane, Wash., to the 110s and 120s in the Desert Southwest.

Setting records for heat in the Southwest is a high bar to reach, but more fell Sunday. Las Vegas hit 117 degrees. Since record-keeping began there in 1937, the only other times the temperature reached 117 degrees were on July 19, 2005, and July 24, 1942, according to the National Weather Service.

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The mercury rocketed to 128 degrees Sunday in Death Valley National Park, the National Weather Service said, tying the record for the hottest June day anywhere in the country.

But the Los Angeles Times reported that the National Park Service thermometer — 200 yards away — recorded a temperature of 129.9, which shatters the record for June.

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In an another unusual occurrence, commuter airline US Airways Express was forced to ground some planes out of Phoenix on Saturday afternoon when temperatures soared above 115, NBC station KPNX reported.

The extreme heat creates less dense air, which does not allow some planes to get the lift they need to fly, according to the station’s meteorologist Matt Pace.