"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."

Andrew Freedman reports for Mashable July 1, 2015. [2]