California’s Death Valley reached 130 degrees on Friday, amid a historic heat wave that is impacting the Pacific Northwest and stretching into parts of the Southwest.
The blistering temperature in the desert valley along the California-Nevada border was reported by the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office, which predicted that the heat could reach as high as 132 degrees on Saturday.
While the highest observed temperature in Death Valley was recorded as 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, scientists have disputed this reading, meaning Friday’s temperature could be one of the highest ever measured on Earth, according to The Washington Post.
As of noon local time Saturday, the temperature in Death Valley had already reached 123 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Millions of Americans in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona as well as in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington, have been issued excessive heat warnings, prompting officials to urge residents to limit their outdoor activities.
According to The New York Times, nearly 200 people have died since late June amid the heat wave in Oregon and Washington state.
In California, where record heat has led wildfires to break out unseasonably early, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called on residents this week to cut their water use by 15 percent as he expanded a drought emergency declaration to 50 of the state’s 58 counties.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Friday confirmed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded in the scientists’ 127 years of tracking temperatures in the U.S.
NOAA reported that the average overall temperature of the month was 72.6 degrees, with states like Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah recording their hottest Junes ever.
This week, an analysis from an international group of climate researchers explained that the record-breaking heat wave in the U.S. would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change.
The study from the World Weather Attribution found that the heat would have likely been at least 150 times less likely without the impacts of human-induced climate change.