US West Swelters In Record-Busting Heat, Risking Wildfires

Dangerous, record-busting heat is spreading across the U.S. Southwest and into parts of Utah, Montana and Wyoming.

It's caused by a dome of high pressure that's hovering over a large swath of the region, pushing temperatures into the triple digits this week and intensifying the risk for wildfires amid a long-running drought. Some of the highest temperatures are in bone-dry Arizona, where the National Weather Service has forecast a record high of 117 degrees Tuesday in Phoenix. The previous high for the date was 115 degrees in 1974. The excessive heat stretched from southeast California across Arizona and Nevada and into New Mexico. Utah set a heat record for the second day in a row.