by LAS VEGAS — Sin City is excited.
Record-warming temperatures over the past week have turned the Las Vegas Valley into a giant oven, forcing officials to close public pools and museums, driving people indoors most of the day and baking sidewalks hot enough to suffocate. to fry.
The Las Vegas Strip, usually packed with tourists, was a shadow of its usual gloomy self during Thursday afternoon rush hour, as the sun beat down on the casino-lined boulevard. Downtown’s Fremont Street was also warmer than usual, with fewer street performers braving the roasting temperatures to attract wide-eyed out-of-towners.
As the city faces a possible new record Friday of seven straight days of temperatures at or above 115 degrees Fahrenheit, conditions are unacceptable even to those experienced in the desert’s vagaries.
“This heat wave is a whole different animal,” said Dan Berc, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office. “We’re breaking all kinds of records.”
The city set a new all-time heat record of 120 degrees on July 7. On Wednesday, the city broke its previous streak in 2005 of four consecutive days at or above 115 degrees, before breaking it again on Thursday and possibly again on Friday. Extreme heat has gripped much of the western United States this week, with about 42 million people under heat warnings Friday across the region and into the Rocky Mountains and southeast Texas. At least 38 people are thought to have died in six states from heat-related illnesses.
“I’ve lived here in southern Nevada, in Las Vegas, for the past 18 years, and it’s definitely been warmer this year than it has been in the past,” said Krishel Hadsell, social services manager for Clark County, Nevada, including Las. Vegas, Boulder City, Henderson and neighboring towns.
Hadsell oversees more than 40 cooling centers currently operating in Clark County. These facilities, which range from libraries to churches to recreation centers, are air-conditioned sanctuaries that provide shelter for people during the hottest times of the day.
As temperatures in Las Vegas soared to record highs, the heat disrupted people’s daily routines.
Scott Vivier, deputy fire chief at the Henderson Fire Department, said he and his wife have to do housework and go shopping early in the morning to avoid the heat. By 9:30 am, he said, sometimes it’s even worth being in the car.
“We are morning and late night creatures,” Vivier said.
The extreme heat forced the Neon Museum near downtown Las Vegas to temporarily close its doors this week.
“Due to an extended extreme heat advisory in the Las Vegas valley, the opening of the Neon Museum has been delayed until 8:30 p.m.,” officials said on the museum’s website Friday. The museum displays some of the most iconic neon signs in Las Vegas history in an outdoor “boneyard”.
Still, museumgoers are likely to find conditions that hinder them even during the evening hours. Overnight temperatures this week soared into the 90s.
The heat also forced officials in Henderson to close public pools early Thursday and Friday.
“Due to the scorching temperatures, our weather closure policy has been implemented,” city officials said in a Facebook post.
At the Henderson Fire Department, first responders have found new ways to deal with heat-related emergencies. Firefighters are the first in southern Nevada to have “polar pods” to rescue people with heatstroke. The pods are basically large, waterproof bags filled with ice and water that people can submerge to quickly cool their internal temperature.
“In the past, if we can’t cool the central nervous system, we haven’t had much success,” Vivier said of responding to heat stroke patients. “Now, this is the first treatment we have where it’s been proven that within 10 minutes, you can get a person’s core temperature from 109 degrees to 102 degrees, which allows us to really intervene in a life-threatening emergency turn life around.”
Since May 1, the Henderson Fire Department has seen a 53% increase in heat-related emergency calls, according to Vivier.
A heat advisory remains in effect through Friday in Las Vegas, but even after temperatures drop a bit, there won’t be much recovery from the heat. This weekend, the city could tie its record of 10 consecutive days at or above 110 degrees, Berc said.
“If you can, it’s best to walk and stay inside,” he said. “It’s a lot like what you’d do in a snowstorm in the winter, but it’s the opposite here in the summer.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
