17m under the country’s most severe heat warning as Death Valley set to hit 120F weeks ahead of schedule

More than 17 million people are under excessive heat warnings across western states with dangerous triple-digit heat expected to hit the region this week.

California, Nevada, and Arizona have been issued a severe heat alert by the National Weather Service as early heat is due to send temperatures soaring.

Some areas of Utah and Texas are also expected to be hit with sizzling triple-figure temperatures.

While the official start of the summer season is weeks away, the West is due to see its temperatures surge 20 to 30 degrees above average for the time of year, NWS said.

“This is going to be quite a shock to the system,” Scott Rowe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, according to The New York Times.

This excessive heat is caused by a ‘heat dome,’ a large area of high pressure that stops over an area, traps air, and heats it with abundant sunshine for days or weeks. The resulting heat becomes more intense the longer a heat dome lasts.

The NWS said in an update on Wednesday that excessive heat warnings are in effect across California’s Central Valley region as well as the Desert Southwest. An Extreme Heat Risk alert is also in place across south Texas.

Southeastern California, southern Nevada, and western and southern Arizona are also under heat warnings.

The service said that a very “pronounced ridge” will build across the Western United States over the next few days, supporting a heat wave that is due to expand across the region.

Fahrenheit temperatures are expected to reach the 90s and even 100s, with many widespread records expected to be broken through Friday.

“These extremely hot conditions will affect anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” the NWS has warned, advising people to stay indoors in air-conditioned rooms, drink lots of water, and check on vulnerable loved ones.

Temperatures are expected to reach staggeringly high numbers in Las Vegas, Pahrump, Barstow, and the Morongo Valley, with degrees up to 107F to 114F.

Other areas will experience equally hot temperatures, such as 108F to 116F degrees for Mesquite, Overton, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Bullhead City, and Lake Havasu City.

Kingman, Yucca, and Wikieup may see numbers skyrocket to 104F to 110F.

However, Death Valley National Park, one of the hottest places on the planet, is expected to reach possible temperatures of 118F to 122F degrees.

The hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134F (56.7C) in July 1913 at Furnace Creek inside the national park.

Las Vegas has a high chance of reaching 112F on Thursday, which would become the city’s earliest observed 112F on record, the NWS said.

The weather experts added that the Las Vegas and Phoenix metro areas are likely to top 112F for the first time this year by Thursday or Friday.

While the temperatures have already been set to soar in early June, there may not be a lot of rest bite for the remainder of the summer, as the West is expected to continue to see above-average temperatures through to August, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NOAA National Weather Service said that as of Wednesday, over 35m are under some form of heat alert across the country.

The US Border Patrol also reported on Monday that four migrants died last weekend in connection to the sweltering heat while trying to cross into the country in the El Paso Sector.

“Tragically, there have been four deaths due to heat stroke and dehydration during last weekend, underscoring the lethal risks associated with illegal border crossings during extreme weather conditions,” CBP said, according to KTSM.

A prolonged and deadly heatwave has already killed at least 48 people in Mexico due to the heat dome.