The Western U.S. Heat Wave Is So Bad Pavement Is Causing 2nd-Degree Burns

A nasty, spiteful, brain-boiling blob of high pressure continues to bedevil the American West, and forecasts indicate it ain't going nowhere until after Independence Day. As reported earlier on this site, the extreme heat is causing weird problems like planes that can't fly because of altered air density. But what's the human cost of this hellish weather?

• Let's begin this pageant of misery with a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that's chock-full of terrible, highly readable details about the hidden dangers of... the ground. When temperatures soar, asphalt turns into sort of a surprise griddle that sears the heck out of human skin. Here's University Medical Center trauma and burn specialist Jay Coates telling the newspaper about the injuries he's seen so far: