LAS VEGAS – Soldiers who call the Las Vegas desert home have endured a historic heat wave while serving in Kuwait.

The temperature reached at least 129 degrees in Mitribah, Kuwait, on July 21, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/2b5Medf).

A review will determine if the day got as hot as 129.2 degrees, a tie for the world’s third-highest recorded temperature.

Nevada’s 17th Sustainment Brigade stations soldiers in Kuwait to deliver supplies to American troops in Iraq, Jordan and Qatar.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Gregory Backus of Sparks compared the humid heat to getting slapped in the face with a steamy rag.

“Imagine the hottest day in Las Vegas out on the hot pavement . that’s about our average daily high temp. Then add a bunch of random humidity,” Backus said according to a news release Tuesday from the Nevada National Guard that quotes his message to the Joint Force Headquarters in Carson City.

Las Vegas residents experienced slightly cooler temperatures July 27-28 when record-setting 115-degree weather pushed the demand for electricity to its highest level ever. Nevada energy officials say the previous demand record was set July 5, 2007.

The world heat record was set at 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, about 115 miles from Las Vegas in Death Valley, California.

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com