California Heat Wave: Motorcyclist Dies From Heat Exposure As Temperature Reaches 53 Degree Celsius in Death Valley National Park

Los Angeles, July 8: A visitor to Death Valley National Park died on Sunday from heat exposure and another person was hospitalised as the temperature reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53.3 C) in eastern California, officials said. The two visitors were part of a group of six motorcyclists riding through the Badwater Basin area amid scorching weather, the park said in a statement.

The person who died was not identified. The other motorcyclist was transported to a hospital in Las Vegas for "severe heat illness", the statement said. The other four members of the party were treated at the scene. "High heat like this can pose real threats to your health," said park Superintendent Mike Reynolds. The death comes as a long-running heat wave has shattered temperature records across the US. Las Vegas Temperature Hits Record High: Hottest Day Ever Recorded in US City As Temperatures Reach 120 Degree Fahrenheit.

A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the US will persist, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that will soar into the 100s and holding the East in its hot and humid grip throughout the week, forecasters said on Sunday. An excessive heat warning -- the National Weather Service's highest alert -- was in effect for about 36 million (3.6 crore) people, or about 10 per cent of the population, said NWS meteorologist Bryan Jackson. Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest were expected to tie or break previous heat records, he said.

That was certainly the case over the weekend: Many areas in Northern California surpassed 110 degrees (43.3 C), with the city of Redding topping out at a record 119 (48.3 C). Phoenix set a new daily record on Sunday for the warmest low temperature: it never got below 92 F (33.3 C). A high temperature of 128 F (53.3 C) was recorded on Sunday at Death Valley National Park in eastern California, the weather service said. Over 75 Million People in the US Are Under Heat Alerts. Go Indoors and Hydrate.

That did not faze Chris Kinsel, a visitor who said it was "like Christmas day for me" to be at Death Valley on a record-breaking day. Kinsel said he and his wife typically come to the park during the winter, when it is still plenty warm -- but that is nothing compared with being at one of the hottest places on Earth in July.

"Death Valley during the summer has always been a bucket list thing for me. For most of my life, I have wanted to come out here in summertime," said. Kinsel, who was visiting Death Valley's Badwater Basin area from Las Vegas.

Kinsel said he planned to go to the park's visitor centre to have his photo taken next to the digital sign displaying the current temperature.

Across the desert in Nevada, Natasha Ivory took four of her eight children to a water park in Mount Charleston, outside Las Vegas, which on Sunday set a record high of 119 F (48.3 C). "They are having a ball," Ivory told Fox5. "I am going to get wet too. It is too hot not to." Jill Workman Anderson also was at Mount Charleston, taking her dog for a short hike and enjoying the view. "We can look out and see the desert," she said. "It was also 30 degrees cooler than northwest Las Vegas, where we live."

Triple-digit temperatures were common across Oregon, where several records were toppled -- including in Salem, where on Sunday it hit 103 F (39.4 C), topping the 99 F (37.2 C) mark set in 1960. On the more-humid East Coast, temperatures above 100 degrees were widespread, though no excessive heat advisories were in effect for Sunday.

"Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbours," read a weather service advisory for the Baltimore area. "Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances."

Heat Records Shattered Across the Southwest

Rare heat advisories were extended even into higher elevations including around Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada, with the weather service in Reno, Nevada, warning of "major heat risk impacts, even in the mountains". "How hot are we talking? Well, high temperatures across (western Nevada and northeastern California) will not get below 100 degrees (37.8 C) until next weekend," the service posted online. "And unfortunately, there will not be much relief overnight either."

More extreme highs are in the near forecast, including possibly 130 F (54.4 C) around midweek at Furnace Creek, California, in Death Valley. The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 in Death Valley, though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 F (54.4 C), recorded there in July 2021.

Tracy Housley, a native of Manchester, England, said she decided to drive from her hotel in Las Vegas to Death Valley after hearing on the radio that temperatures could approach record levels. “We just thought, let us be there for that," Housley said on Sunday. "Let us go for the experience."

Deaths Are Starting To Mount

In Arizona's Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, along with more than 160 other deaths suspected of being related to heat that are still under investigation, according to a recent report. That does not include the death of a 10-year-old boy last week in Phoenix who suffered a "heat-related medical event" while hiking with family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to police.

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