You know it’s hot when Death Valley, California, breaks records with high temperatures.
A dangerous long-term hot event is set for parts of the West that will begin Friday and last into new week.
More than 34 million people are under excessive heat watches and warnings in California and the Southwest. Most of the heat alarms go into effect on Friday and will remain in effect through new week. During this time, dozens of record levels could be set for cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and Salt Lake City in the coming days.
This warming event will be particularly dangerous due to higher than normal humidity due to tropical moisture flowing in the region from what was Hurricane Elida, which has since disappeared.
Los Angeles will bake through the weekend under temperatures in the mid-90s.
“If you have to do your workout outside, do it early in the day,” NBC Los Angeles meteorologist Belen De Leon said Thursday.
Download the NBC News app for news breaks
Las Vegas could see temperatures rise to 113 through Sunday.
Phoenix has already had a summer with record settings, setting a new mark for most days 110 degrees or higher in one year with 36, a number that is expected to climb over the next 7 days as temperatures plummet to 115 degrees.
And Death Valley, considered the hottest spot on Earth, is predicted to reach 126 degrees on Sunday and 127 degrees on Monday. If this happens then it will be the hottest temperature of the year.
Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor of earth systems science at Stanford University, said the impact of severe heat will fall disproportionately on marginalized groups, including homeless people and families struggling with poverty.
People who do not have access to quality housing and air conditioning tend to be more vulnerable to heat, he said, and families with limited economic resources generally do not get as much urgency from emergency response systems.
“The social groups that are prioritized in response to severe heat tend to be richer, and there is a racial divide as well,” Diffenbaugh said.
This intense heat coincides with fires that broke out in Southern California.
The Lake Fire in Los Angeles County grew to 10,000 acres on Wednesday in less than 4 hours. During the day, Wednesday to Thursday, the fire showed explosive and unlawful behavior in the form of fire eddies and rapid fire spread. The fire on Thursday covered 10,000 acres and was contained at 0 percent.
Fortunately, the expected winds over Lake Fire on Thursday were not expected to be very strong (with gusts up to 15 mph), but low humidity levels and the rising heat wave will keep the fire threat high for the next few days.
And the west is not the only region dealing with polluting and record-setting heat.
Tens of millions of people are also under heat advice across the Central and Southern Plains on Thursday, including the cities of Oklahoma City, Dallas and Houston. There, high temperatures could reach 100-107 degrees, and those temperatures combined with high humidity will make it feel more like 105-115 degrees. Dallas, Amarillo and El Paso were all able to set new record highs on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Austin, Texas is in the midst of a 100-degree blowing stretch of days. The area has recorded 11 straight days of temperatures above 100 degrees with at least 5 more in the forecast before the region ends early next week.
The expectation of the heat and record temperature will remain in place until Sunday.
Daniel Arkin contributed.
