A perfect storm of several unusual factors is bringing dangerous and potentially record-breaking heat to the western and north-central United States.
Temperatures across this sprawling swath of territory are forecast to be 15 to 30 degrees above average this week, thanks to an anomalously strong ridge of high atmospheric pressure coinciding with the high angle of the Sun in June and extremely dry soils.
The already parched Southwest and portions of the Intermountain West will be particularly hard hit. "Places such as Las Vegas, NV and Phoenix, AZ will experience temperatures into the 110s nearly every day [this] week," according to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center.
