Death Valley Temp May Tie June Record

LAS VEGAS (AP) —

A heat wave smothering the West is rewriting the record books, likely tying a more than century-old record for the U.S. while putting Las Vegas through its hottest June ever.

The National Weather Service says California’s Death Valley National Park tentatively recorded a high temperature of 129 degrees on Sunday, which would tie the all-time June record high for the United States. It could take months to verify whether the record set in 1902 at Volcano, a former town near the Salton Sea in southeastern California, was matched.

The reading, however, is short of the all-time, world record 134 degrees set in Death Valley on July 10, 1913.

Triple-digit heat struck again elsewhere in Southern California, while metropolitan Phoenix saw just a slight drop in temperatures after experiencing record-breaking heat Saturday. The 119-degree high in Phoenix on Saturday marked the fourth-hottest day in metro Phoenix since authorities started keeping temperature records more than 110 years ago. The high temperature for the metro area hit 115 on Sunday.

Las Vegas temperatures have been at 115 and above in recent days — including a record-tying 117 on Sunday — helping make June the hottest ever in that city.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Stachelski says Las Vegas will continue to bake in near-record temperatures at least through Thursday.

June was the third-hottest in Salt Lake City history, highlighted by the record high for the month of 105, set on Friday and Saturday.

The forecast for the first week of July calls for temperatures of 100 degrees or higher Tuesday through Thursday.

That would mark a streak of eight straight days of triple-digit heat, said National Weather Service meteorologist Nanette Hosenfeld. The record is 10 consecutive days, set in 2003.

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