米西部広域で猛暑、デスバレーで５４度観測

【ファーネスクリークＡＦＰ＝時事】猛暑に見舞われている米カリフォルニア州デスバレー国立公園のファーネスクリークビジターセンターでは１７日、過去最高記録に迫る気温５４度を観測した。（写真は資料写真）
　米西部は今週、東西はカリフォルニア州からワイオミング州まで、南北はアリゾナ州からアイダホ州までの広域で記録的な熱波に見舞われ、一部地域で気温が５０度まで上がっている。米国立気象局（ＮＷＳ）は、少なくとも週末にかけて「気温は平年を上回り、極端な高温になる」と予報している。
　米国立公園局は、デスバレー国立公園を訪れる観光客に対し、飲み物を多めに携帯するなど「生き延びるための準備をして」旅行するよう呼び掛けている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/18-17:35）

Much of the western United States is braced for record heat waves this week, with approximately 50 million Americans placed on alert Tuesday for excessive temperatures, which could approach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in some areas.
A prolonged and record-breaking heat wave is underway across the western US, said the US National Weather Service, with above normal to extreme high temperatures expected at least through the weekend.
The heat wave, which stretches like a blob over much of the western third of the US map, extends east to west from Wyoming to California, and north to south from Idaho to Arizona.
Average temperatures in the vast region are around 20 degrees Fahrenheit above the seasonal norm, with the arid desert states of Arizona and Nevada most likely to shatter records.
The Arizona city of Phoenix experienced temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday but forecasters predict it could pass 118 degrees by the end of the week, with lows in the upper-80s at night.
Las Vegas in neighboring Nevada is suffering its most extreme prolonged heat wave since early summer 2013, according to local media, and the city by Wednesday could near its decades-old temperature record of 117 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 1940.
Authorities have opened cooling stations for vulnerable residents without access to air conditioning, and called on social media influencers to help warn the public about the impact of the sweltering heat on pets.
The highest temperature ever officially recorded was in nearby Death Valley, at 131.4 degrees Fahrenheit back in 1913.
As well as warning that current temperatures are rare, dangerous and deadly, officials fear that the heat -- arriving so early in the year -- could lead to deadly forest fires, aggravated by chronic drought in the American West.
Some 88 percent of the region is in a state of drought, including all of California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada, according to the latest government surveys.