Utah's heat wave is getting worse and crushing records
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Utah's ongoing heat wave has obliterated temperature records and could negatively affect our health if we're not careful
Driving the news: Most of Utah is under a heat advisory through Wednesday, with temperatures in Salt Lake City expected to reach 104° Tuesday and 105° Wednesday.
- Southern Utah is getting hit even harder as temps are projected to reach 110° in Zion National Park and 105° at Lake Powell.
By the numbers: This heat wave is unlike anything Salt Lake City has seen before.
- High temps had broken records for seven consecutive days as of Monday. The next-longest streak of record highs was just four days, which last happened in February 2015.
- September has never exceeded 100° before this year. Monday's high of 104° is the new high for the month.
Of note: With temps in triple digits for a week, we're also on track to tie the record for consecutive days with highs in the 100s — 10 days, which was set in July 2003.
- But this year it's happening in meteorological fall.
The big picture: The heat wave comes on the heels of Salt Lake's hottest summer on record, with an average temperature of 81.5 degrees in June, July and August.
- Temps have reached at least 100° 32 days so far this year. The previous record was 21 days, in 1994 and 1960.
The record temps are persisting at high altitudes, too — 64° at about 10,000 feet on Sunday, compared to a previous record of 61°.
- That shows "how strong and anomalous this area of high pressure is," the National Weather Service tweeted.
Stay safe: Utahns are advised to stay indoors 10am–4pm, drink lots of water, and seek shelter in a public "cool zone" (like a library or senior center) if you don't have a safe place to go.
- Salt Lake County has a map of locations.