Visitors to Las Vegas this week stepped out momentarily to snap photos and were hit by blast-furnace air. But most will spend their vacations in a vastly different climate – at casinos where the chilly air conditioning might require a light sweater.
Meanwhile, emergency room doctors were witnessing another world, as dehydrated construction workers, passed-out elderly residents and others suffered in an intense heat wave threatening to break the city’s all-time record high of 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius).
Few places in the scorching US Southwest demonstrate the surreal contrast between indoor and outdoor life like Las Vegas, a neon-lit city rich with resorts, casinos, swimming pools, indoor nightclubs, and shopping.
Sergio Cajamarca was among those who lined up to pose for photos in front of the city’s iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign where the temperature before noon already topped 37.8 C (100 F).
“I like the city, especially at night. It’s just the heat,” said Cajamarca, 46, an electrician from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
His daughter, Kathy Zhagui, 20, offered her recipe for relief: “Probably just water, ice cream, staying inside.”
Meteorologists in Las Vegas warned people not to underestimate the danger.
“This heatwave is NOT typical desert heat due to its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures, & warm nights. Everyone needs to take this heat seriously, including those who live in the desert,” the National Weather Service in Las Vegas said in a tweet.
The extreme heat is continuing as a high-pressure dome moved west from Texas.
“We’re getting a lot of heat-related illness now, a lot of dehydration, heat exhaustion,” said Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the ER at Dignity Health Siena Hospital in suburban Henderson.
Morim said he has treated tourists this week who spent too long drinking by pools and became severely dehydrated; and a stranded hiker who needed litre of fluids to regain his strength.
Stefan Gligorevic, a software engineer from Lancaster, Penn., visiting Las Vegas for the first time said he planned to stay hydrated and not let it ruin his vacation.
“Cold beer and probably a walk through the resorts. You take advantage of the shade when you can,” Gligorevic said.