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Article snippet: Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.) How hot has it been lately? So hot that San Diego County recorded its highest temperature ever — 124 degrees in Ocotillo Wells. Airlines canceled more than 40 flights in Arizona. And a woman suffered third-degree burns on her feet after walking barefoot in Death Valley. Extreme heat is expected to become a bigger part of life in the West. Climate researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created forecasts of how many days of extreme heat — defined as more than 95 degrees — the Los Angeles region could expect if nothing was done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Downtown Los Angeles, for example, now has roughly a week’s worth of extreme heat days a year, said Alex Hall, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at U.C.L.A. By 2050 that figure could reach roughly 22. By the end of the century: 54. California lawmakers have made ambitious pledges to fight climate change. But scientists say that even if they were fully implemented, the heating trend won’t slow any time soon. That’s in part because carbon already in the atmosphere will have impacts for decades to come. Under a scenario of mitigation roughly akin to the Paris climate accords, downtown Los Angeles would still see more than twice as many extreme heat days than it does now by midcentury, according to the U.C.L.A. forecasts. “But by the end of the century,” said Dr. Hall, “it’s dramatically different” —... Link to the full article to read more