The US National Weather Service early Wednesday said Southwest US is expected to experience dangerous heat build through the end of the week, with daytime temperatures likely to hit highs of 110-115 degree Fahrenheit.
The Southern Plains is expected to get some relief by late week with temperatures briefly easing to near-normal before rising again into next week, the agency said.
Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms are forecast on Wednesday for parts of the central and southern High Plains, central Great Lakes, and Ozarks.
The NWS early Wednesday issued a red flag warning for Idaho's Orofino, Lewiston, Grangeville, and Riggins, primarily served by Idacorp's (IDA) Idaho Power and Avista (AVA) subsidiary Avista Utilities.
A similar warning was raised for Oregon's Chemult, Silver Lake, Paisley, Chiloquin, Bly, Klamath Falls, Lakeview, and Adel. These places primarily fall under the service area of PacifiCorp's Pacific Power.
In California, a red flag warning was raised for Tulelake, Canby, Alturas, Likely, San Luis Obispo, and parts of Santa Maria. Meanwhile, an extreme heat warning was raised for Palm Springs, Blythe, El Centro Imperial, Twentynine Palms, Barstow, Baker, Death Valley, Victorville, Burbank, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beaumont, Riverside, Ontario, Chino, Palm Springs, Indio, Hemet, Temecula, Anaheim, Santa Ana, San Clemente, Borrego Springs, Escondido, Julian, Mount Laguna, El Cajon, Campo, Palmdale, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, Avalon, Malibu, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria.
Pacific Power, PG&E (PCG) subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric, Edison International's (EIX) Southern California Edison, and Sempra Energy (SRE) unit San Diego Gas & Electric are the major electricity service providers in these places.
Las Vegas and Beatty in Nevada, which falls under the service area of Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit NV Energy, were also placed under a similar warning.
Affected areas in Arizona include Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, Yuma, Parker, Gila Bend, Dateland, Ajo, Wickenburg, Phoenix, Casa Grande, Globe, Prescott, Tucson, Nogales, Grand Canyon Village, Sierra Vista, Safford, Willcox, Benson, Bisbee, San Carlos, Oracle, Oro Valley, and Green Valley. Arizona is primarily served by Pinnacle West Capital (PNW) unit Arizona Public Service Company, and UNS Energy subsidiaries Unisource and Tucson Electric Power.
The NWS issued a flood warnings for Canton, Havana, and areas near Carmi in Illinois; and Indiana's Terre Haute, Vincennes, Petersburg, and areas bordering Illinois.