Important Takeaways:

• Phoenix and Las Vegas are among the cities that will experience blazing heat in the West this week — and the widespread hot and dry conditions will escalate the wildfire threat across the region.
• The combination of a bulge in the jet stream, high pressure building at most levels of the atmosphere and a storm offshore of California will allow the heat to build without any shower or thunderstorm activity for about 50 million people in the West.
• “Sacramento, California, will challenge the daily record high temperature of 103 F by Tuesday, with a current forecast that would match the record set in 1935,”
• Farther south, in Fresno, California, temperatures are projected to be around 105 F
• In Las Vegas, temperatures are forecast to hit 108 on Wednesday, 111 on Thursday and 110 on Friday.
• Temperatures are forecast to reach at least 110 degrees in Phoenix from Wednesday to Friday.
• According to the United States Drought Monitor, more extensive and deeper soil drought conditions are expanding over parts of the interior Southwest, especially in New Mexico and parts of West Texas.
• Recent heavy rain in much of the Northwest will keep the risk of wildfires low in the short term.

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