In Past Week, 465 Record Daily Highs, 49 Record Monthly Highs Set, Mostly In Baking American West

The West is baking under a heat dome that has sent temperatures soaring to historically high levels, further drying out soils and priming the region for fast-spreading wildfires. The heat wave is noteworthy for its severity, extent and duration.

During the past seven days alone, 465 warm temperature records have been set or tied across the country, mainly in the West, with 49 monthly warm temperature records set or tied, according to the National Center for Environmental Information in Asheville, North Carolina.

These numbers are rising by the hour as the blistering heat wave continues from interior areas of southern California, across the barren Nevada and Utah deserts, northward into western Montana, and west from there toward Washington and Oregon.

The heat doesn't stop at the Canadian border, though, as record-breaking heat has also taken hold in British Columbia and Alberta. Cranbrook, British Columbia, set an all-time high temperature record of 98 degrees Fahrenheit, or 36.8 degrees Celsius, on Sunday, according to The Weather Network

EDIT

http://mashable.com/2015/06/30/western-heat-wave-wildfires/