•scorching heat wave in the southwest

Heavy precipitation was not the only extreme weather plaguing the US. A scorching heat wave across the Southwest has put roughly one-third of Americans under some type of heat watch or warning. That included brutal temperatures in the hottest place on Earth – Death Valley, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada, reached 128° Fahrenheit (53.33° Celsius) on Sunday at the aptly named Furnace Creek, the National Weather Service said. Las Vegas also faced the possibility of reaching an all-time record temperature Sunday.

The US Environmental Protection Agency posted air quality alerts for several states stretching from Montana to Ohio on Sunday because of smoke blowing in from Canadian wildfires. Hochul, the New York governor, said she expected air quality alerts to be issued for northern and western parts of New York state Monday because of the wildfires.

“Air Quality alerts are in place for much of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern High Plains,” the National Weather Service said. “This is due to the lingering thick concentration of Canadian wildfire smoke over these regions.”