Forecast

Record Heat Spreads This Week

It's not "officially" summer just yet. The summer solstice is next Friday, June 21. However, blistering summer heat is cooking the Southwest. Over the past few days, we've seen the hottest temperatures so early in the calendar in....

Las Vegas: 112 on Saturday beat the previous earliest high of 112 or hotter set on June 12, 1940.
Red Bluff, Calif.: 112 on Saturday beat their previous earliest high of 112 or hotter set on June 15, 1961.
Death Valley, Calif.: 126 on Saturday beat their previous earliest high of 126 or hotter set on June 16, 2000. They also hit 125 on Sunday, and had a Sunday morning low of only 96 degrees! According to the NWS-Las Vegas, they were 115 degrees at noon Sunday!
Denver: 99 on Monday beat their previous earliest high of 99 or hotter set on June 13, 2006. On Tuesday, the Mile High City recorded its earliest 100-degree temperature on record.
Las Animas, Colo.: A high of at least 110 on Tuesday beat the previous earliest 110-degree reading set during the Dust Bowl on June 18, 1936.
Tribune, Kan. and Hill City, Kan.: Topped out at 111 degrees on Tuesday.

The heat has proven deadly, as a man died and five others (including four Boy Scouts) suffered heat-related illnesses after being lost during a hike Saturday inside the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in northwest Arizona.

Heat Spreads

While the 110s and 120s of the Desert Southwest won't be an issue, searing, record-breaking heat is expanding out of the Southwest into the Rockies, Southern Plains and Southeast.

Wednesday, the 90s continue to spread into the Ohio Valley eastward into parts of Virginia and the Carolinas. At least mid-90s heat will continue to bake the Deep South and the Southern Plains, with more triple-digit heat in the High Plains.

Among the cities that may be at least in the neighborhood (within 3 degrees) of record highs Wednesday are:

St. Louis (current record: 98)
Charleston, S.C. (current record: 96)
Columbus, Ga. (current record: 99)
Asheville, N.C. (current record: 91)
Lexington, Ky. (current record: 95)
Phoenix (current record: 112)

Now, the good news (if you don't like the heat). The Pacific Northwest, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast (north of the Mason-Dixon Line) will not be involved in this expanding heat this week.

(MORE: Heat Safety)