By Monday morning, firefighters had developed a containment line around three-quarters of the fire.
“The humidity is starting to drop,” Kurth said. “We have seen an increase in wildfires.”
He noted that the heat wave starting this week would not be unusual for August in central California, but said its early nature could make it more significant because “people are not adapted to the heat.”
“When we have a heat event early in the season, it can have more of an impact on people,” he said.
In mountainous areas of the West, he said, early-season waves can also increase drowning risks because people often flock to rivers flowing with fresh melted snow.
“We have pretty cold water temperatures and strong currents,” Kurth said. “Be careful; wear life jackets.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted last month that 2024 will be one of the five hottest years on record and said there is a good chance it will be the hottest on record.
Last year, deaths rose as prolonged heat waves hit much of the South and Southwest.
The death certificates of more than 2,300 people who died in the U.S. last summer mentioned heat, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the highest number in 45 years.
Heat is the leading cause of weather-related death in the US. But its consequences are sometimes hidden in death certificate data because heat often aggravates underlying conditions, such as heart disease, respiratory problems or kidney disease. Texas A&M researchers estimated that 11,000 people likely died who otherwise would not have died from the heat last year, the AP reported.
Weather patterns, such as the high pressure ridge expected to form this week, were to blame for many of these deaths.
The Phoenix area endured temperatures above 110 degrees on all but one day in July last year, according to data from the National Weather Service — something scientists have since determined was “virtually impossible” except for the effects of climate changes. In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and many of its suburbs, at least 645 people died from heat-related causes last year, a 52% increase from the previous year.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
