About 50 million people on heatwave alert at the end of winter in the US

About 50 million people in the southwestern US are under a heat alert, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported this Thursday, expecting record high temperatures as winter is barely ending, such as the one recorded in a town in California where the thermometer reached 42 degrees Celsius. The forecasts indicate that some areas of California, Nevada and Arizona could reach temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees above normal for mid-March, and that in some localities they could be up to 40 degrees above the average, which has forced authorities to recommend not exposing oneself to the heat. The historic heatwave already broke a record this Wednesday with the highest maximum temperature recorded in the month of March in the United States in the last 70 years. The thermometer in North Shore, a small town in California's Coachella Valley, reached 42 degrees Celsius, equaling the temperature first reached in Rio Grande City, Texas, in 1954. "Dangerously" high temperatures will continue throughout the week, the NWS warned in its bulletin this Friday for Los Angeles, emphasizing that the valley and inland areas will continue to reach peaks in the thermometer until Friday. In Thermal, California, the temperature is forecast to reach 43.3 degrees Celsius this Friday, which could set a national record. The warning has extended to Phoenix, which yesterday registered 38.8 degrees Celsius, a mark not seen since March 1988. Las Vegas (Nevada) reached 37.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, surpassing its historical maximum temperature record for the month of March. High temperatures and drought could also increase the risk of forest fires, authorities have warned, even in areas as far north as Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, where the danger increases due to forecasts of strong winds. Extreme heat is considered the deadliest weather hazard in the United States.