A record heat wave across the United States is killing visitors to national parks and sending others to the hospital. The record heat has the National Park Service warning visitors to be prepared or stay indoors.
Though it’s still relatively early days for summer, extremely high temperatures have gripped much of the contiguous United States.
The heat wave is expected to continue in the US West while easing somewhat in the East. The US National Weather Service says the tourist destination of Las Vegas can expect high temperatures of 111 degrees Fahrenheit (about 44 degrees Celsius).
National parks in the region are experiencing the same heat, prompting several emergencies and fatalities as parks’ visitors are caught off guard.
Over the weekend, a man hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California had to be airlifted out. Media reports said he was suffering from heat stroke.
Arguably, visitors to Death Valley National Park in California face the greatest danger.
Death Valley is thought to be among the hottest places on Earth during the summer months. It’s notorious for extremely high temperatures in even normal summers.
Last Friday, a woman hiking in Death Valley fell unconscious and had to be carried out by other visitors to a parking lot where an ambulance took over her emergency care. She was later airlifted to a hospital in Las Vegas.
“The air temperature was around 115 degrees Fahrenheit at this point,” NPS reported of the incident. That’s over 46 degrees Celsius.
When the victim and her companion began their hike at 9:30 am the temperature had already climbed to 110 degrees F, or 43 degrees C.
The near-fatal incident is only the latest heat-related emergency at a US national park.
On July 13, a woman and her father died while hiking in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. They both succumbed to heat and dehydration, the Park Service said.
The father-daughter pair “both from Green Bay, Wisconsin, had been hiking on the Syncline Trail, gotten lost, and run out of water,” NPS officials said.
Earlier this month, a man from Texas died hiking in extreme heat in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Another man died from overheating while driving his motorcycle through Death Valley.
US park authorities advise against hiking in some parts of the Grand Canyon and other parks during summer daytime high temperatures.
Elsewhere, officials always advise that visitors bring plenty of water with them and “eat salty snacks” as salt enables water retention.
Several deaths and heat-related medical emergencies have been reported at US state parks, as well.
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