On Friday, the first heat wave of the year is predicted to linger in the Southwestern United States for at least one more day. On the previous day, temperatures in the region broke records, reaching as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) from southeast California to Arizona.
About half of Arizona and Nevada were under an excessive heat alert, which the National Weather Service continued until Friday evening, even though the formal start of summer is still two weeks away. In Las Vegas, where it's the hottest time of year thus early, the advisory was extended through Saturday. The Las Vegas weather service stated that "high temperatures as much as 10 to 15 degrees above normal can be expected, with record high temperatures likely for some sites through Friday." It predicted that while temperatures would gradually drop over the weekend, they will still be above average throughout the first part of next week.
Eleanor Wallace, 9, who was visiting Phoenix from northern Utah on a trek to celebrate her birthday with her mother Megan Wallace, remarked, "It's so hot." Conditions were deemed "dangerously hot" by the National Weather Service in Phoenix, where on Thursday's new record high of 113 F (45 C) eclipsed the previous record of 111 F (44 C) set in 2016. There were no initial reports of significant injuries or fatalities brought on by the heat.
However, by late afternoon, eleven people at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Phoenix were suffering from heat exhaustion; they were rushed to the hospital, where they received treatment, and then were allowed to return home, according to fire officials. Additionally, the Clark County Fire Department reported that since midnight on Wednesday, it has responded to at least 12 requests for heat exposure in Las Vegas, where Thursday's high temperature of 111 (43.8 C) set a new record and matched the earliest period of the year when it hit at least 110 (43.3 C). In nine of those calls, the patient required hospitalization.
Oscar Tomasio of Cleveland, Ohio, proposed to his fiancée, Megan McCracken, on Thursday in Phoenix despite the unusually high temperatures. They hiked to the top of a route on Camelback Mountain, carrying three liters of water each. "The vistas were breathtaking. She was a little anxious due to the heat, so we didn't quite make it to the top," he remarked. "Well, as the sun rose, I made her a proposal."
In an attempt to beat the heat and the trail's approaching closure, McCracken stated they had planned a sunrise hike and had gotten up at roughly five in the morning. "Most likely not early enough," she remarked. "We started just a few minutes after 6 and it's like we came prepared, but we got through all of our water and it was hot — was hotter than we're used to," said Megan Wallace, the mother of the birthday girl from Utah who also arrived carrying water bottles.
