West Sizzling Under Record-Breaking Heat Wave This Week

Rob Shackelford Tue, May 12, 2026 at 10:49 AM UTC

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A western heat wave will shatter record highs for the second week of May, and then the heat will spread into portions of the Rockies and Plains.

This heat is more of a "slow boil," building bit by bit every day. It is expected to peak Tuesday in the West with daily high temperature records expected to fall in cities like Las Vegas, Boise, Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs.

It will then continue to build into parts of the Plains through the weekend, with records possible in places like Kansas City.

Slow Sizzle

On Mother's Day, Reno, Nevada, soared to its first 90s of the year, setting a daily record high of 92 degrees. Death Valley tied its daily record of 112 degrees on Sunday. Appropriately named Thermal, California, reached 108 degrees, tying its record set in 2025.

On Monday, Las Vegas set a new daily record after topping out at 104 degrees. Salt Lake City and Reno both set a daily record at 92 degrees. And Casper, Wyoming, even set a new daily record at 85 degrees.

Phoenix was 1 degree shy of tying its previous record of 110 degrees. The earliest they have ever hit 110 is on May 8, 1989.

The map below shows all the potential record daily highs that could fall through Saturday:

Tuesday

Heat will continue to build north in the Great Basin and Plains. Nineties will surge into Idaho, Oregon, southern Kansas, western Oklahoma and western Texas. Much of the Rockies and Plains will be in the 70s and 80s.

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Wednesday

Daily record highs are possible as far north as Montana on Wednesday, where at least some 90s are possible. Highs will be widespread in the Plains, as far north as North Dakota.

Late Week-Weekend

Some 90s are possible into this weekend in parts of the central and Southern Plains, potentially as far north as Nebraska. Daily record highs are possible in Omaha, Kansas City and Wichita. Eventually, high temperatures in the 80s will cover most of the East.

(MAPS: 10-Day US Forecast Highs/Lows)

What Is Causing This?

The setup here is actually pretty straightforward. We have a ridge of high pressure that is set up across the West. This means that the jet stream is pushed north across the West. The areas south of the jet stream in this ridge pattern tend to see warm temperatures and clear skies.

The stronger the area of high pressure, generally the more stable the air and the hotter the temperatures. While this high isn’t record-breaking, it is impressive. The graphic below gives a visual representation of this.

Any Relief?

We do forecast markedly cooler weather first in the Northwest, then into the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains late in the week. Highs in Salt Lake City should tumble into the 70s by Thursday.

That should also shave at least a few degrees off the heat in the Southwest later in the week, with highs in mid- to upper 90s in Las Vegas and low 100s in Phoenix.

Rob Shackelford is a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”