Beachgoers seek relief as heat wave bakes California

Beachgoers seek relief as heat wave bakes California

A dangerous heat wave was baking swaths of the western United States through the weekend, and many locations in California registered record-high temperatures on Sunday.

Libby Hogan reports.

As a record-high heatwave engulfed California over the Labor Day weekend, locals in Santa Monica grabbed their surf boards and umbrellas and hit the beach, seeking relief in the waves as temperatures soared up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

State officials repeated calls to Californians on Sunday to turn off appliances and lights, to avoid blackouts and warned of rotating outages over the weekend --- which is when utilities purposely cut power temporarily to avoid broader outages.

These are rare and had not occurred in 20 years, until August last year when the electricity supplier for Southern California struggled under similar sweltering conditions.

The heat wave comes as California's coronavirus cases fell by 39,000 over the past two weeks, down from the two weeks prior.

But while those numbers heading into the Labor Day holiday sound like they are part of a downward trend they are in fact double the number of cases recorded before Memorial Day in May.

That weekend saw a spike in cases, which many health experts partly blamed on social gatherings during the holiday.

Most of the 22 U.S states where cases are now rising are in the less-populated parts of the Midwest and South.