This is just one small part of a brutal heat wave baking the deep Southwest and lower Plains states right now before expanding eastward and northward later this week. Dozens of records were set over the weekend and dozens more are on the way this week.

Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories cover 50 million Americans in an area stretching 1,700 miles from the deserts of Southern California to the beaches of Panama City, Florida. Temperatures today may top out over 120 in the deserts of California and Arizona, and…