Temperatures in the Western United States Hit Record Breaking Highs

More than an 8th of the U.S. population which is over 40 million people are on alert across the Western U.S. for a long lasting heat wave. The Salt Lake City National Weather Service tweeted “no easy way to say this, so we’ll just cut straight to the chase: it’s going to be *very* hot for a *long time*.” On Tuesday, Salt Lake City recorded it’s third consecutive day of triple-digit heat. The temperature in the city was 107 on Tuesday afternoon which tied it’s all time record high which was recorded in the month of July and marking the third time it has ever soared to 107 degrees. The cause of the high temperatures is due in part to a massive ridge of high pressure referred to as a heat dome that is gaining strength over the Western U.S.  Also on Tuesday, Billings Montana reached a high temperature of 105 degrees and on Wednesday, Las Vegas reached 116 degrees. In the United States, five of the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 2012.