Temperatures in the west, including areas across California, are expected to heat up with a record breaking 10 to 20 degrees above what is average for these states.
"This is definitely earlier than we typically see," Sierra Littlefield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, told CNN. "We've already set records and will again today until the heat builds and moves west of us."
California, the Great Basin, and the Intermountain West are expected to get hit particularly hard by the rising temperatures this Saturday.
"We're forecasting a high of 89 [degrees Fahrenheit] on Friday and 91 on Saturday, which would break a daily record for both days," said Matt Woods, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. "And if we reach 92 we will break the all-time March high." The last time this area reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit was in 2004.
Woods warns that, despite Las Vegas’ typical warm weather, these record-breaking temperatures are going to begin to overwhelm residents.
"People are used to 60 and 70 [degrees], and we're forecasting our first 80-degree day of the year and now we're talking 90," he said. "Folks may be a bit overwhelmed."
The oppressive heat began to descend as early as Tuesday this week. In California's San Jose temperatures rose to 85 degrees, breaking its 83-degree record in 1915. In Santa Rosa, the heat jumped to 86 degrees, meeting its record of the same temperature set in 1926. Over yonder in the Salinas area, the temperature climbed to 85 degrees, outpacing its record high of 78 degrees in 1931.
Record-breaking temperatures will also hit Utah this weekend, just a week after it snowed across a majority of the state. The Beehive State’s previous record was set 127 years ago and is expected to be shattered on Sunday with a temperature of 78 degrees. The last time it was nearly that hot was in 1895 at 76 degrees.
The record high temperatures will be a shock for those in Utah, who usually experience one of their peak ski seasons in the month of March.
"March is one of our peak months, considered high season and traditionally some of our greatest snowfalls occur here in Alta, Utah," said Clara Eddy with Alta Lodge. "We're not happy about the high heat but do not believe it'll keeps folks from coming. It'll be a bit icy but northern slopes should fare better."
Much of this region is ordinarily covered in snow that begins to melt and run off, creating jaw-dropping waterfalls and mountain rivers which feed and nourish local vegetation and wildlife. But this year? That’s going to be a different story.
The heat will further impact areas of the US, like California, which is suffering from a persistent drought.
In late February the federal government told California farmers, who are responsible for growing a quarter of the food Americans eat, that they wouldn’t be getting any additional water to help feed their crop during California’s “megadrought.”
A megadrought is characterized as a drought that persists for two decades or longer. California is in its 22nd year, meaning the state has been experiencing its worst megadrought in 1,200 years.
“These events have rarely been seen and were once considered a worst-case scenario in modern times,” said Park Williams, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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