PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a heat wave in the Southwest (all times local):
5:40 p.m.
Authorities in California say two elderly people died because of an extreme heat wave scorching the Southwest U.S.
Santa Clara County officials say a 72-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman died Monday in San Jose, where temperatures reached 94 degrees.
Officials said in a statement Wednesday one of the two was homeless and lived in a car.
Santa Clara County spokeswoman Marina Hinestrosa says she can’t provide any other information on the people who died due to health privacy laws.
A National Weather Service heat advisory is in effect until Thursday at 9 p.m.
Santa Clara County is forecast to get high temperatures ranging from 90 to 100 degrees.
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5 p.m.
There’s record-setting heat in Phoenix for the second consecutive day.
Phoenix hit 117 degrees Wednesday to top its previous record of 115 for the date, set in 2008.
Tuesday’s high was 119 degrees, breaking the mark of 116 set last year and tying for the fourth-hottest day in the city’s recorded history.
Phoenix’s all-time high is 122 degrees, set on June 26, 1990.
The high on Monday was 118 degrees, matching last year’s record for June 19.
National Weather Service meteorologists say the hot weather is sticking around Phoenix for a while longer.
Thursday’s forecast calls for a high of 113 degrees, three degrees below the record.
Highs are expected to reach at least 113 in Phoenix until next Wednesday when the temperature is expected to drop to 109 degrees.
2:30 p.m.
Construction crews rebuilding the damaged spillways at the United States’ tallest dam have switched to morning and graveyard shifts to avoid 115-degree temperatures in Northern California.
Starting Monday, California switched the 425 contracted construction workers rebuilding spillways at the Oroville Dam to shifts starting at 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. Authorities say the idea is to avoid the worst of the afternoon sun in the heat wave withering the U.S. Southwest.
Crew leaders also are providing water, fruit and shade for the workers, and counseling them to guard against overheating as they labor on the steep hillside below the dam.
Both spillways at the 770-foot-tall (230-meter-tall) Oroville Dam began washing away in last winter’s rainy season.
Officials with Kiewit Corp., the Nebraska construction company doing the emergency $275 million repairs, said crews are using ice and chilled water to keep the concrete for the new spillways cool enough to work with.
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1:50 p.m.
A major California utility is urging customers to conserve electricity amid an extreme heat wave.
Pacific Gas and Electric says its customers may break an all-time record for electricity use on Thursday, especially due to use of air conditioners.
PG&E forecasts demand will peak at 22,700 megawatts. The company’s previous system peak load was on July 25, 2006, when customer demand for electricity hit 22,468 megawatts.
The San Francisco-based utility serves nearly 16 million people in northern and central California.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state energy grid, already has in place a call for voluntary conservation until 9 p.m. Wednesday.
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1:10 p.m.
A California man has died after taking part in a 5K run in searing heat.
The Bakersfield Californian reports (https://bit.ly/2sC6IA8 ) that Benjamin R. Greene collapsed Tuesday evening shortly after running the race in 107-degree heat at a Bakersfield park.
An off-duty firefighter performed CPR but he died at a hospital.
The paper says Greene had been nervous about the event. In a Facebook posting, he wrote: “I have never run long distance in heat like this. Maybe it won’t be as hard as I think. Or maybe it will be absolutely brutal.”
An excessive heat warning has been issued for the Central Valley community through Thursday, with temperatures expected to soar well above 100 degrees.
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?7:49 a.m.
Arizona Public Service Company, the state’s largest electricity provider, says customers set a record peak usage Tuesday as temperatures in Phoenix soared to nearly 120 degrees.
Over 7,300 megawatts of energy were consumed between 5 and 6 p.m., topping the prior 11-year record set in 2006.
Phoenix hit a high of 119 Tuesday as the Southwest continued an extreme heat wave.
The area is looking at breaking another temperature record Wednesday with an expected 117 degrees for a high.
Authorities say people should avoid the outdoors and be in air-conditioned buildings during the heat wave.
Death Valley, California, reached 127 Tuesday and Palm Springs hit 122, tying the degree for the same day last year.
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12:10 a.m.
The first day of summer brought some of the worst heat the Southwest U.S. has seen in years.
Arizona, Nevada and California saw dramatic temperatures Tuesday and researchers say deadly heat waves like this one were going to grow more frequent.
Meteorologists said Tuesday’s temperature in Phoenix topped out at 119 degrees, a mark that’s only been matched or surpassed four other times in the city’s recorded history.
The forecast called for a high of 120 degrees (49 degrees Celsius) in Phoenix, which has hit 120 only three times in recorded history. The record high was 122 degrees on June 26, 1990.
Death Valley, California, reached 125 Tuesday and Palm Springs hit 121, still a degree lower than the same day last year.
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