Heat swings into danger zone in southwest U.S.

Morgan Reed, a promotions assistant for KSLX, plays with a puppy wearing elastic booties at a PetSmart in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Phoenix radio station KSLX handed out the protective coverings to protect dogs' paws from the hot pavement, as temperatures in Phoenix are forecasted to hit 120 degrees. (AP Photo/Angie Wang)
Morgan Reed, a promotions assistant for KSLX, plays with a puppy wearing elastic booties at a PetSmart in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Phoenix radio station KSLX handed out the protective coverings to protect dogs' paws from the hot pavement, as temperatures in Phoenix are forecasted to hit 120 degrees. (AP Photo/Angie Wang)

PHOENIX -- The day before the first day of summer brought some of the worst heat the Southwest U.S. has seen in years, forcing flights to be canceled, straining the power grid and making life miserable for workers toiling in temperatures that reached 120 degrees or higher in some desert cities.

Arizona, Nevada and California saw dramatic temperatures Tuesday as researchers say deadly heat waves like this one are going to grow more frequent.

Meteorologists in Phoenix said Tuesday evening that the temperature topped out at 119 degrees -- which has only been matched or surpassed four other times.

The forecast had called for a high of 120 degrees in Phoenix, which the city hasn't seen in more than two decades. In California, Death Valley reached 125 and Palm Springs hit 121, still a degree lower than the same day last year.

The operator of California's power grid called for people to conserve electricity during peak hours.

At a downtown Phoenix construction site, men in hard hats and yellow vests labored and sweated in the morning heat and downed water to maintain fluid balance. Project superintendent Tommy Russell had said his company has held weekly safety meetings to prepare for the heat and that he will send all his workers home if it hits 120.

Las Vegas also baked. Visitors tried to stay inside air-conditioned casinos, and some tourists lugged packs of bottled water around the Strip. Others went to a bar where the temperature is set at 23 degrees and glasses, walls and seats are sculpted from ice.

Tonya and Lavonda Williams traveled to Las Vegas from Orlando, Fla., to see the Backstreet Boys in concert. Walking on the Strip in 112 degrees was too much to handle, even for people accustomed to heat.

"This is like the oven door is open," Lavonda Williams said as the sisters walked from a pedestrian bridge into The Palazzo casino-resort.

"It's too hot to even drink alcohol," Tonya Williams added.

With cooling and watering stations in full swing across the region, hundreds of people flocked to Grace Lutheran Church in Phoenix for water, meals, snacks and refuge.

"We have homeless people come from a long way to sit here," longtime volunteer Moses Elder said. "There are other spots where you can go get cold water and sit down and cool off, but there are few places you can lay down and get something to eat."

Phoenix has hit 120 only three times in recorded history -- the last time 22 years ago. The record high was 122 degrees on June 26, 1990.

The heat wave comes as new research found that nearly one in three people now experience 20 days a year when the heat reaches deadly levels. The study of nearly 2,000 deadly heat waves worldwide since 1980 was published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

In the southwest U.S., the heat has caused several problems this week. In addition to grounding more than 40 flights of smaller planes, airlines have been taking other measures on larger jets to reduce their weight. American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the carrier began limiting sales on some flights to prevent the planes from exceeding maximum weight for safe takeoff in the hot conditions.

Information for this article was contributed by Regina Garcia-Cano and Josh Hoffner of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/21/2017

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