A heat wave gripped large swaths of the Western U.S. on Saturday as temperatures hovered near record highs, heightening wildfire risks in areas that already were dry or burning and prompting warnings for people to stay inside.
A ridge of high pressure was holding heat close to the ground—what’s known as a heat dome—from Arizona to Montana, though the good news was that it will be relatively short-lived, National Weather Service meteorologists said.
Dangerous heat and warnings were plaguing the region, and the National Weather Service on Saturday forecast a number of cities that were expected to hit record highs. By late afternoon, Las Vegas reached 115 Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature of the year and just one degree off the daily record of 116 F….