West Coast Heat Wave Claims Life, Sets New Record with Searing Temperature in Death Valley

A severe heatwave is affecting a significant portion of the United States, with nearly 70 million people under heat alerts as of Sunday and over 250 warm high and low temperature records potentially being set by Wednesday. The contiguous US is expected to see temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for nearly 40 million people over the next seven days. An excessive heat warning was in effect for approximately 36 million people, or about 10% of the population, on Sunday. In Northern California, many areas surpassed 43.3°C (110°F) over the weekend, with Redding setting a record high temperature of 48.3°C (119°F). Phoenix also set a new daily record for the warmest low temperature on Sunday.