Authorities in Western states are warning of the rising risk of wildfires as hot conditions and low humidity dry out the landscape amid a protracted heat wave baking much of the U.S. California’s top fire official says so far this year the state has responded to more than 3,500 wildfires that have scorched nearly 325 square miles of vegetation.
Smoke rises from the Vista fire as seen from a flight into Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, over Los Angeles. – Authorities in Western states warned of the rising risk of wildfires as hot conditions and low humidity dry out the landscape amid a protracted heat wave that is expected to bake much of the U.S. again Thursday.
Several wildfires were also burning in Oregon, including one about 111 miles east of Portland that blew up to 11 square miles Wednesday due to hot temperatures, gusty winds and low humidity, according to the state fire marshal. Las Vegas on Wednesday recorded its record fifth consecutive day of temperatures sizzling at 115 F or greater. The temperature climbed to 115 shortly after 1 p.m. at Harry Reid International Airport, breaking the old mark of four consecutive days set in July 2005. And the record could be extended, or even doubled, by the weekend.
On the other side of the nation, the weather service warned of major-to-extreme heat risk over portions of the East Coast. An excessive heat warning remained in place Wednesday for the Philadelphia area, northern Delaware and nearly all of New Jersey. Temperatures were around 90 F for most of the region, and forecasters warned the heat index could soar as high as 108 F .over the weekend in California's Death Valley National Park.
“Climate change is real,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Wednesday. “Those extremes are here present every day in the great state of California. If you don’t believe in science, you have to believe your own eyes the lived experience all of us have out here in the western United States, for that matter, all around the globe.”
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