- Medical professionals across the Southwest are warning about a rise in burn injuries due to extreme heat.
- An extended heatwave is gripping western and southwestern states in the US this week.
- Temperatures in Las Vegas and Phoenix expected to hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Doctors across Nevada, California, and Arizona are warning about an increase in burn injuries as a vicious heat wave spreads across the western and southwestern US this week, according to the Associated Press.
Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California are registering blistering temperatures this week, with temperatures in Las Vegas and Phoenix expected to hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius). In the four states, the National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings through the weekend.
Due to climate change, the heatwave is expected to last longer than usual, and in the Southwest, doctors are concerned with an increase in burns from hot asphalt, car surfaces, sidewalks, and sand.
"It doesn't take much time to get a full-thickness or third-degree burn when exposed to hot pavement," Arizona Burn Center director Dr. Kevin Foster said last Thursday. "Because if you look at hot pavement or asphalt at two o'clock in the afternoon in direct sunlight, the temperature is usually somewhere around 170 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit."
According to the AP, seven people died in Arizona last summer due to burn injuries suffered from contact with hot surfaces during a 2020 heatwave.