Southwestern US can expect triple-digit temperatures with first heat wave of 2024

The first heat wave of the year is headed for the southwest part of the country, bringing triple-digit temperatures to parts of California, Nevada and Arizona after a blistering hot summer last year.

The stretch from southeast California to central Arizona is expected to see “easily their hottest” temperatures since last September by Wednesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, according to The Associated Press.

Much of California and Arizona are under an excessive heat warning and Nevada is under a heat advisory, NWS said in a weather alert.

“Areas of particular concern include the low elevation regions of California’s central valley and the Desert Southwest where high temperatures will easily climb over 100 degrees beginning today,” NWS said in its Tuesday update.

Temperature records are expected to be tied or broken in many of those areas. Forecasters said weather in the region typically doesn’t get this hot until the middle or end of June.

The current forecasted high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix would break the daily record high of 111 degrees set in 2016.

In Las Vegas, temperatures will reach 10 to 15 degrees higher than normal, peaking at 111 degrees on Thursday, the AP reported.

Temperatures are not expected to cool down much at night and “will make for dangerous conditions” for people who don’t have cooling or adequate hydration, the alert said.

Fire restrictions went into effect before Memorial Day in some parts of Arizona and crews will remain on high alert, The AP reported.

The heat wave kicks off the summer season in the southwest, an area that was hit particularly bad by high temperatures last year. In California’s Death Valley, temperatures reached more than 125 degrees Fahrenheit and Phoenix experienced 25 straight days with temperatures of at least 110 degrees.