Under the shade of an umbrella with temperatures already in triple digits by mid morning, tourists walk north along Las Vegas Boulevard toward The Strip, Sunday, June 30, 2013 in Las Vegas. Temperatures were on the rise again after the city reported a record overnight low of 89 degrees Sunday and forecasters predicting a high of 116. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A deadly heat wave that pushed temperatures in Las Vegas to 115 and above for the last several days — including a record-tying 117 on Sunday — helped make June the hottest ever, the National Weather Service said Monday.
Sin City will continue to sizzle beneath near-record temperatures at least through Thursday, meteorologist Chris Stachelski said.
The high was expected to reach 116 on Monday at McCarran International Airport, just off the Las Vegas Strip. Friday’s forecast is for a high of only 110 degrees.
The intense heat pushed daily highs to 115 on Friday and Saturday before tying the all-time record high on Sunday. Las Vegas reached 117 degrees twice before since official records began in 1937 — on July 24, 1942, and July 19, 2005.
Stachelski said the average daily temperature in June of 91.5 degrees broke the record of 90.5 degrees set in 2006. The hottest June before that was in 1994.
Not a drop of rain was recorded during the month, Stachelski added.
At least two possible heat-related deaths were being investigated by the Clark County coroner’s office in Las Vegas, although it wasn’t clear if either was the same case reported Saturday by Las Vegas fire spokesman Tim Szymanski.
Szymanski said Saturday that paramedics found an elderly man dead in a home with no air conditioning, and that the man had prior medical issues. The fire spokesman said Monday that federal health privacy laws prevented him from providing more information.
Coroner’s records show that an 82-year-old woman was found dead Saturday in a residence with no air conditioning southeast of downtown Las Vegas. The woman was reported to have been still recovering from being hit by a vehicle earlier this year. It was expected to take several weeks for blood test results of to help determine her exact cause of death.
A 66-year-old man with multiple heart and lung ailments was pronounced dead after he was found Saturday on a couch near a trash bin at an apartment complex in unincorporated Clark County east of the Las Vegas Strip. Authorities said his motorized scooter was found parked nearby.
Death rulings in both cases listed extreme temperatures as a contributing factor, said Nicole Gazza, aide to Coroner Michael Murphy.
Coroner’s investigators weren’t immediately sure if extreme heat contributed to the death of a man found Sunday night in the desert near rural Searchlight and Nelson’s Landing. The man wasn’t immediately identified.
On Friday, heat illness prompted more than 200 people to seek medical attention at an outdoor concert that drew several thousand people to an asphalt parking lot at an off-Strip casino resort]. Paramedics from throughout the region were summoned, and 34 people were taken to hospitals for additional treatment.
Pappa said officials extended through Wednesday their plans to keep “cooling stations” open to shelter homeless and other people who don’t have access to air conditioning.
