Heat in Southwest Sets Blazing Records
LAUGHLIN, Nev. — The thermometer hit 125 degrees Wednesday in this gambling resort town on the Colorado River. The previous record of 124, the all-time record for the entire state of Nevada, had been on the record books for just one day.
And Laughlin wasn’t even the hottest point in the region. A few miles downriver, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., fried at 128 degrees, a record for Arizona and the town’s fifth day above 120.
Forecasters blamed the inferno on a vast bubble of hot air stuck over the Southwest.
Heat records have toppled from the Southern California desert to Texas and Oklahoma. Along the California side of the Colorado River, Blythe and Needles both hit 121, as did Palm Springs. Elsewhere in California, Death Valley hit 126.
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