It's hard to put into words just how extreme the heatwave coming to California and the Western US is going to be. This truly ranks among the most extraordinary heatwaves the United States has ever seen. One perfect example: Palm Springs is forecast to hit 111°F next Friday. That would smash the US record high for the month of March by 3 degrees. It would also be 7 degrees warmer than any other March day Palm Springs has ever seen. Head a little farther south into Coachella Valley, and the town of Thermal is forecast to reach 113°F, which would tie the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in the US in April. And this would happen on March 20th. Thermal's hottest March day on record is 103°F. Breaking a monthly record by 10 degrees is virtually unheard of. I could go on and on with statistics about how absurd this event is, but this heatwave is the word "unprecedented" at its most literal.