Record-setting Southwest heat wave turns fatal
updated 1:27 AM EDT, Sun June 30, 2013
Mike Bouse shades himself with an
umbrella as he floats in the water at Lake Mead near Boulder City,
Nevada, on Saturday, June 29. Triple-digit temperatures have stifled the
Southwest and aren't expected to relent until Tuesday.
HIDE CAPTION
Heat wave hits the West
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: The heat may have contributed to the death of a Las Vegas man
- 134 was "highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth" on July 10, 1913
- Excessive heat warnings extend from northern California to Arizona and beyond
- The temperature reaches 127 in Death Valley on Saturday
Death Valley was the
hottest spot Saturday, reaching 127 degrees, and Arizona and Nevada
continued in a record-setting heat wave that is forecast to last through
Tuesday.
The heat may have led to
the death of a man in his 80s in Las Vegas, where the temperature
Saturday hit 115 degrees, tying a record set in 1994, the National
Weather Service said.
Paramedics found the man
dead in his home, which did not have air conditioning, said Las Vegas
Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski.
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He died of cardiac arrest
and the heat may have contributed to his death, although the coroner
will make the final determination, he said.
The heatwave comes just a
couple weeks before the 100th anniversary of what the National Weather
Service calls the "highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth"
-- 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, in Death Valley's Greenland Ranch.
At Furnace Creek, the
heat will stay on full blast through Tuesday, at least. At night, the
mercury will drop to a relatively cool 96 degrees.
"We have more work than
we can handle," said Max Ghaly of Cathedral City Air Conditioning and
Heating in Palm Springs, California. "We're running all over the place
trying to do what we can."
The only time the technicians can have some cold air, Ghaly told CNN, is when they're driving.
Fun aside, the heat wave
scorching the Southwest is dangerous, as 170 concertgoers found out
Friday evening in Las Vegas, according to the fire department.
Ambulances plucked them
out of 110-degree heat in an open-air music venue and drove them to a
shady spot, where they could sit down and drink water. Another 30 people
were treated for heat ailments in local hospitals.
"I'm not worried as much
about the people who have lived here a while," said Sgt. Troy Stirling,
police spokesman in the Lake Havasu, Arizona, near the California state
line.
"It's more the tourists coming into the area, even from Southern California, who aren't used to this kind of heat."
A man driving from
northern Nevada to southern Arizona stopped at a Las Vegas highway exit
Saturday after his car's air conditioning unit broke and he drove for
several hours without it, Szymanski said. He stopped at the exit to call
911, and when paramedics arrived, they found the man suffering from
heat stroke.
Civic and emergency
officials throughout the Southwest say that if there was ever a time to
worry, this would be it. The reason isn't just the oppressive heat that
is plaguing the region: It's the fact it is expected to hang around, and
possibly even get worse, over the next few days.
Extended heat warnings
The National Weather
Service issued an excessive heat warning for large parts of California,
Nevada and Arizona, and a heat advisory for other parts of Nevada.
Many of the excessive
heat warnings extend through Tuesday night. Starting Wednesday,
temperatures will drop by a couple of degrees, moving closer to normal
temperatures.
"It'll still be hot, but
not as intense as we're seeing now," said Chris Stachelski, a
meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
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Forecasters say temperatures through the weekend could rival a 2005 heat wave that killed 17 people in the Las Vegas area.
The culprit is a high
pressure dome that's blocking cooler air coming down from the Pacific
Northwest, CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons said. That system won't
begin to break up until early next week, she said.
As a result, Phoenix
residents saw a high of 119 degrees on Saturday -- setting a new record
for the day. Temperatures should max out at 113 in the coming days in
Palm Springs, California.
It's not like sunset
will provide much respite, as temperatures may not drop below 90 degrees
in many places, even in the middle of the night.
Some heat wave advice
"The No. 1 thing is to
absolutely know your limitations and to stay hydrated by drinking plenty
of water," Stachelski advises those coping with the high temperatures.
He recommends limiting
time outdoors. For those who have to do any strenuous activity outside,
he advises doing it in the early morning, evening or simply putting it
off until the end of the week when the temperatures are lower.
Such high temperatures
can put people at risk for heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which can be
fatal. The elderly, infants, children and people with chronic medical
conditions are the most prone to heat stress.
Heat exhaustion is the
body's response to an excessive loss of water and salt, usually through
excessive sweating, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include extreme weakness or fatigue, dizziness, nausea and fast and shallow breathing.
Heat stroke is even more
serious and happens when the body becomes unable to cool down, the CDC
says. It can cause death or permanent disability if untreated.
Heat stroke symptoms include hallucinations, chills, confusion and dizziness, along with slurred speech.
To protect against heat
stress, the CDC advises spending time in air-conditioned places, staying
informed of heat warning and drinking lots of fluids.
CNN's Joe Sutton, Michael Martinez and Michael Pearson contributed to this report.
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