Headline Roundup • June 18th, 2021
Heat Wave Hits Western US, Threatening Fires and Straining Power Grids
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A record-breaking heat wave that placed tens of millions under heat advisories in the western U.S. is spreading east, raising temperatures in Iowa and Missouri on Thursday. Power grid operators in both California and Texas asked customers to conserve energy this week, echoing Texas’ power grid failures in February. The heat may also be contributing to a 21,000-acre wildfire in Montana. This comes on the back of a historic drought, which some have called “biblical” and “potentially the worst drought in 1,200 years.” The heat wave has also affected areas in Mexico and Canada, and the Middle East is experiencing its own heat wave on the other side of the planet. Meteorologists have tied the heat to climate change as well as a “heat dome” where high pressure traps in hot air.
Local outlets and mainstream outlets like Fox News and CBS News were more likely to cover this story. Coverage in left- and center-rated outlets was more likely to connect the heat wave to climate change.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Axios
The record-breaking heat wave roasting the West is expanding its grip on Thursday, with the focus of the triple-digit heat shifting into California — particularly the Central Valley and desert regions.
Why it matters: Across the West, the combination of record heat, preexisting drought conditions, and dry lightning strikes from afternoon thunderstorms threatens to ignite numerous wildfires Thursday.
Fires have already been burning in Montana, Arizona and other states affected by the heat wave.
More than 40 million people across the West and Southwest are likely to see temperatures in their area...
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Washington Examiner
All-time heat records were shattered this week in Western states as temperatures rose 10 to 30 degrees above average and caught more than 40 million people in the sweltering weather.
Death Valley, California, reached 124 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, making it the hottest place in the country and, as experts suggested, perhaps the most blistering spot in the world. High temperatures in Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, and Arizona also broke heat records.
Billings, Montana, broke its all-time heat record by 10 degrees, reaching 108 on thermometers. Similarly, Chula Vista, California, reached temperatures of 89...
NBC News Digital
Tens of millions of Americans are under record-setting heat alerts again Friday as a heat wave enters its seventh day across the West, with experts warning against walking on asphalt barefoot or touching car handles barehanded for fear of third-degree burns.
Temperatures in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado soared into the 90s and 100s Thursday, but the sizzling heat also spread east to Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa, breaking record after record where observed highs were sweltering by late spring standards.
Tucson, Arizona, Phoenix and Las Vegas all topped their previous records...
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