Record Heat Wave Hits Western United States
The national weather service has issued an extreme heat alert for these desert areas, as well as a high forest fire risk alert.
A record heatwave hitting the western half of the United States moved towards the center of the country on Saturday, bringing unusually high temperatures for the season to regions where it was freezing just a week ago. Dozens of cities, from California to Colorado, recorded their highest temperatures ever observed in March, according to the national weather service.
Among the regions setting new maximum temperature records for March on Saturday were Kansas City, Missouri (center), and North Platte, Nebraska (center), where the temperature reached 33.3°C.
This unusual heatwave caused temperatures to soar in a matter of days. For example, in Chanute, a small town in Kansas, temperatures went from a record low of -10.5°C on March 16 to a record high of 32.8°C just four days later.
Up to 44.4°C in Several Regions
On Friday, the heatwave pushed temperatures up to 44.4°C in several regions along the southern border between California and Arizona (southwest), setting a national American record for March.
On Saturday, the national weather service issued an extreme heat alert for these same desert areas, as well as an alert for a high forest fire risk for a large part of the central plains states, including Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
This record heatwave, exposing millions of Americans to temperatures surpassing seasonal averages by up to 17°C, would have been “almost impossible at this time of year in a world without climate change,” according to a report from the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists studying the links between extreme weather events and climate change.
