California Central Valley, Death Valley May See New Temperature Records Week Of 1 July

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Heat will build over parts of California this week, potentially challenging current temperature records. The US National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings and heat advisories for the days between Tuesday and Saturday due to “dangerously hot conditions” with temperatures likely to soar into the triple digits fahrenheit.

Temperatures have already been building across the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys this past weekend, but will continue to rise through this week. One of the hottest cities will likely be Fresno, where maximum temperatures could exceed 110F (43C) across multiple days.

Death Valley may also get close to 130F (54C) towards the end of the week; a temperature that has been reached only three times – in 1913, 2020 and 2021. Temperatures more widely will reach 100-110F (38-43C) between Tuesday and Saturday, although peak temperatures could reach 115F (46C), which would be 5-10C above the climatological average. In addition to the high daytime maximum temperatures, there won’t be much relief overnight, with minimum temperatures dropping into the mid-60s F to low-80s F (around 18C-28C).

Alongside scorching temperatures, officials are warning this week of elevated fire conditions, particularly the first half of this week with strong winds and low humidity expected. Fires have already been reported this past weekend, as firefighters battled a 250-acre brush fire in Riverside County on Saturday. With the Fourth of July federal holiday this week, Cal Fire officials are reminding residents to be safe when lighting fireworks because of their propensity to spark fires.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/01/scorching-temperatures-across-us-threaten-heat-records