Las Vegas Sun

November 30, 2009

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Editorial: It’s a desert out there

Friday, July 6, 2007 | 6:55 a.m.

If you have lived in the Las Vegas Valley for any amount of time, you have probably heard someone try to downplay how hot it is because it is, after all, a dry heat.

Give newcomers a summer and they will learn what the rest of us know, especially after a week like this with a string of National Weather Service-issued excessive heat warnings. The difference between dry and humid heat at these temperatures is like the difference between boiling or broiling. Either way, things are going to cook.

The weather service issues such a warning when the apparent temperature - the measure of temperature and humidity to explain how hot it really is - breaks 105 degrees for two consecutive days or hits 115 degrees at any time. In other words, this is summertime in the Mojave Desert.

So while you are braving this relentless heat - Thursday's official high was 116 degrees - use some common sense:

You may have heard all of this before from your mother or the TV weather forecaster, but take the advice seriously. It can be the difference between life or death.

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