phoenix – A dangerous heatwave threatened wide swaths of the Southwest on Saturday, with potential for 2020, as some cooling centers extended hours and emergency rooms were prepared to treat more heat stroke patients. lethal temperatures reached triple digits.

“Record temperatures are expected this weekend!” Phoenix’s National Weather Service warns The tweet advised people to follow safety tips, such as drinking plenty of water and checking on relatives and neighbors.

“Don’t count!” The Tucson Weather Department warned that the heatwave could be deadly. “It could happen to you too!”

almost 110,000 peopleSevere heatwaves are expected to get worse this weekend in Nevada, Arizona and California, with about a third of Americans on Saturday receiving heat advisories, warnings or warnings. Daytime temperatures are projected to rise above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) and stay above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) at night in some desert regions.

Nearly 200 hydration stations distributing water bottles and cooling centers, where thousands of people may rest in air-conditioned spaces, will open Saturday in public spaces such as libraries, churches and businesses around the Phoenix area. was established.

Charles Sanders spent Friday afternoon with a Chihuahua mix baby girl at the air-conditioned Justa Center, which provides daytime services to the elderly homeless in downtown Phoenix. It also serves as a hydration station, with complimentary bottles of water distributed.

Due to funding and staffing restrictions, the center could only open until 5:30 p.m., and Sanders, 59, who uses a wheelchair, spent sweltering nights with her pet in a crumbling tent behind the building. ing.

“It’s been four summers here and it’s been the worst ever,” said Sanders, a retired welder from Denver.

The city of Phoenix’s chief thermal officer, David Hondura, said on Friday that some centers were extending hours, citing health risks, that could be shortened due to limited volunteers and funding. said there is.

“This weekend is going to be the most serious and hot weather we’ve seen so far,” said Hondura.

He said only one location, the Bryan Garcia Welcome Center for the homeless in downtown Phoenix, will be open 24 hours a day, directing people to shelters and other air-conditioned spaces at night. Stated. During particularly hot summers in the past, the Phoenix Convention Center has opened up the space as a nighttime cooling center, but Honduran officials said they hadn’t heard of that possibility this year.

stacy championPhoenix, an advocacy group for homeless people, took to Twitter this week to criticize the lack of overnight cooling space for unsheltered people, saying they’re “out of luck” if they don’t have somewhere to go.

of Las Vegas, casinos provided a respite from the heat for many. Air-conditioned libraries and police station lobbies from Texas to California were to be open to the public for at least part of the day.

Las Vegas emergency room doctors are treating more people for heatstroke as the heat wave threatens to break Las Vegas’ all-time high of 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius) this weekend. Is going.

Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the ER at Dignity Health Siena Hospital outside Henderson, Nevada, said on Friday that this week’s tourists, who were severely dehydrated after drinking too long by the pool, had to drink liters of water. He spoke of treatment for stranded hikers in need. regain strength.

In New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque, splash pads were open for extended hours and many public pools offered free admission. In Boise, Idaho, churches and other nonprofits provided water, sunscreen, and shelter.

In Southern California, temperatures are expected to rise to triple digits inland, and a high pressure system is expected to stick to the region for several weeks.

Death Valley, Calif., reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48.3 degrees Celsius) by early Saturday afternoon, and forecasters said temperatures could reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius) this weekend. According to the National Park Service, the highest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134°F (56.6°C) in July 1913.

Temperatures hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 degrees Celsius) in Lancaster and Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. In Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, some areas had thermometers in the triple digits.

“It’s going to be pretty warm for a while,” Wofford said, adding that temperatures would be above normal for about two weeks. Across the region, “three-digit numbers are popping up a lot.”

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass announced the opening of a cooling center to help residents escape the heat. “The heat wave expected this weekend could pose a serious risk,” she warned.

Hot and dry weather sparked series of fires In Southern California, firefighters fought to put out three separate wildfires that erupted Friday afternoon in the hottest weather so far this year. The fires are centered in the Riverside County countryside southeast of Los Angeles.

Phoenix on Saturday marked the 16th straight day of temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius), reaching that record just before noon and beginning a trajectory to break the record for the longest such heat ever measured. . In 1974, the record was 18 days.

The heat is expected to continue into next week.

Local health officials in Las Vegas have launched a new initiative. database Thursday will report “heat-induced” and “heat-related” deaths in and around the city and Clark County from April through October.

The Southern Nevada Health District has announced that seven people have died since April 11, with a total of 152 deaths from heat stroke last year.

Maricopa County, Arizona, home of Phoenix, report There have been 12 confirmed heat-related deaths so far this year dating back to April, half of them homeless, according to an announcement this week. A further 55 deaths are under investigation.

there were 425 Confirmed More than half of the heat-related deaths in Maricopa County last year occurred in July, and 80% of them occurred outdoors.

The closer we got to the Pacific coast, the less severe the temperatures were, but the days were still sweaty in the Los Angeles-area picket line where the actors joined the writers. strike against producers.

The California State Fair kicked off in Sacramento, where organizers canceled a planned horse racing event over concerns about animal safety. Southwestern pet owners were encouraged to keep their animals mostly indoors.

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Associated Press reporters Michael Blood of Los Angeles, Ken Ritter of Las Vegas, and Susan Montoya of Albuquerque, New Mexico contributed to this report.