Warnings issued as record heat wave scorches western US

(AFP)- The record-breaking heatwave that hit the west of the country Friday is a once-in-500-year phenomenon and is most certainly a consequence of human-induced climate change, experts said.

The heat has broken records this week and is expected to continue through the weekend in the country's western cities, spreading toward the east coast.

At one spot in the desert area of Lake Martinez, Ariz., 109 degree temperatures were recorded, a national record for the month of March.

According to Weather.com, 65 cities recorded new highs for March, from Arizona and California to Idaho in the nation's west.

Death Valley scorched with 40 °C

Death Valley scorched with 104 F on Thursday, while San Francisco, an often cool and foggy city, matched its all-time March record at 84 F.

In the usually chilly Colorado, skiers hit the slopes shirtless.

The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warnings Friday for much of the Southwest, from Los Angeles and the Southern California coast to the desert gambling capital of Las Vegas.

Warnings were issued to not leave children or pets in cars.

The excessive heat just as winter in this hemisphere is barely ending alarmed weather watchers, who saw signs of a serious change.

"This heat wave would be virtually impossible for this time of year in a world without human-caused climate change," World Weather Attribution scientists said in a report cited by AFP.

They called the phenomenon so exceptional that, despite the general rise in temperatures, something this severe "is only expected to occur about once every 500 years."