California wildfire advances as heatwave hits west US

Firefighters struggled to contain an exploding Northern California wildfire under blazing temperatures as another heatwave blanketed the western United States, prompting an excessive heat warning for inland and desert areas. Death Valley in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert reached 53 degrees Celsius (127F) on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace Creek. The shockingly high temperature was actually lower than the previous high of 54C (129F). If confirmed as accurate, the 54C reading would be the highest recorded there since July 1913, when Furnace Creek desert hit 57C (135F), considered the highest measured temperature on Earth.