Blistering triple-digit temperatures across Texas this week have the state rivaling the hottest locations on the planet, including the Sahara Desert and parts of the Persian Gulf.
Texas has for weeks been baking under a severe, early season heat wave that is now spreading into the Lower Mississippi Valley and parts of the Southeast.
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Over the past week, several cities in Texas, including San Angelo and Del Rio, have hit or surpassed 110 degrees Fahrenheit — temperatures that are more common at this time of year in parts of northern Africa and the Middle East.
Rio Grande Village, Texas, in Big Bend National Park, was hotter than Death Valley on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Rio Grande Village was 115 degrees that day, the hottest in the nation, while Furnace Creek in Death Valley recorded 109 degrees, it said.