Never before has it been so hot in the southwest of the USA this early in the year: In the so-called Valley of Death in the Mojave Desert, temperatures of up to 50 degrees were measured this week. Forest fires were also reported.
The southwest of the USA has been hit by a historically early heat wave, bringing new record temperatures. 44 degrees Celsius were measured in Las Vegas this week. Never before have such high temperatures been measured so early in a year. The states of Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are particularly affected.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Death Valley in the Mojave Desert (California) reached 50 degrees Celsius. At a rally held by former President Donald Trump in Arizona, eleven people were taken to hospitals with heat exhaustion, fire officials told a local television station.
Too hot: hiking trails closed
Libraries were converted into places to cool down, and some events had to be moved indoors. Hiking on the Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak trails in the city of Phoenix (Arizona) was banned because of the heat. With temperatures reaching almost 43 degrees Celsius, it was not a day for hiking, the fire department said on Facebook.
The coastal regions, however, were largely spared from the intense heat. However, a number of smaller forest fires broke out in California. The largest fire burned more than 1,450 hectares in the agriculturally used Californian valley around 240 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles before the fire department was able to contain the flames.
Extreme heat: The first forest fires have broken out in California.
Study: Tens of thousands dead as a result of forest fires
According to a study published on Friday by the University of California in Los Angeles, air pollution caused by forest fires in California has led to more than 52,000 deaths within ten years. The number of deaths caused by the fires is therefore many times higher than the number of deaths caused by fires.