A record-challenging heat dome is about to bake the West with the summer’s hottest temperatures so far | CNN

An unusually strong heat dome will scorch much of the western United States this weekend, bringing the hottest temperatures so far this year to tens of millions from California to Canada. Dozens of record highs are expected to fall in at least 12 states in the West through the weekend with nearly 50 million people under heat alerts. 🥵 Get your heat forecast on the CNN Weather app High temperatures will climb between 10 to nearly 20 degrees hotter than they should be — even for the peak of summer — from Southern California to the northern Rockies and Plains from Friday through Tuesday. Death Valley, California, is forecast to see the hottest temperature of this heat wave: a blistering 126 degrees. This is the latest in a spate of record-breaking heat waves that have affected the US and Europe simultaneously this summer. Human-caused climate change is making heat waves like this one more likely to occur, as well as more intense and longer-lasting, studies show. Particularly strong and slow-moving heat domes are also possibly becoming more common as the world warms, though this is an area of active research. The heat dome responsible for this heat wave may also set records for