Welcome to CNN 10.

I'm Coy Wire.

It's Thursday, March 27th.

Happy Friday Eve.

I want to throw this question out there.

Do any of you know anyone named Elvis or Oprah?

I was talking with some friends and we thought, as popular as those two celebrities are, we can't think of anyone we've ever met named Elvis or Oprah.

So if you know, let us know.

All right, let's get you your 10 minutes of news starting now.

We start today with an early spring heatwave in the southwestern United States.

We're only eight days into spring, but it's starting to feel more like summer for some cities that are reaching record temperatures for this time of year.

Phoenix, Arizona came just shy of hitting the 100 degree mark, reaching 99 this week.

If they had reached the forecasted triple digit temperature, it would have been their earliest 100 degree day on record based on National Weather Service data.

Normally, the city averages its first 100 degree day on May 11th.

In California, cities like Bakersfield and Sacramento City broke high temperature records that were set in 1997, reaching 91 and 88 degrees, respectively.

The unusual warmth is also reaching the Pacific Northwest, where record high temperatures in Portland and Seattle are creating a rare thunderstorm threat that hasn't been seen this early in the year for at least three decades.

Our Derek Van Dam is in the weather center with more.

The calendar says it's spring, but it certainly feels like summer over the western two thirds of the country.

In fact, in the coming days, over 75 potential tide or broken record high temperatures are possible.

And then when we talk about one of the hottest cities in America, Phoenix, Arizona, this is not what residents want to hear.

The potential exists for the earliest 100 degree day on record to occur later today.

So that's really saying something about the heat that these people are facing, especially coming off of a summer where they had 113 consecutive days, the longest stretch ever where the mercury in the thermometer climbed above 100 degrees.

Now, it's not just Phoenix, Arizona.

Other locations here potentially setting record high temperatures.

You can see him from Palm Springs all the way to Seattle, Washington.

So much of the West Coast.

And you can imagine just where this heat is traversing.

It'll first impact the Rockies for the day tomorrow and then shift a little bit further to the east.

You can see the temperature trend going forward.

So you'll see those daytime highs cooling from the West Coast, but warming as we look towards the central parts of the U.S. and we'll be the benefactors here across the Southeast.

Look at these temperatures from New Orleans to Orlando and Atlanta.

Very much like the middle to end of spring. 10 Second Trivia.

What international organization was created during the Cold War?

United Nations, European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or the World Trade Organization?

Your answer here is North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The military alliance was formed in 1949 by 32 North American and European countries as a response to tensions with the Soviet Union.

Now to a rare firsthand account of what life was like for those living and working at a military base dubbed the City Under the Ice.

It's where one young American doctor was sent after being drafted into the military as tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union simmered during the Cold War.

In the 1960s, the U.S. operated a remote Arctic research base in Greenland called Camp Century.

The unprecedented feat of engineering was dug about 26 feet beneath the surface of Greenland's ice sheet.

At times, Camp Century had a population of nearly 200 people living in a network of dozens of tunnels that connected the prefabricated buildings where they lived and worked in the underground caverns.

That included sleeping quarters, bathrooms, laboratories, a mess hall, laundry room, and a gym.

It was all powered by a nuclear reactor carefully transported and installed beneath the ice.

While cutting-edge scientific work was conducted there, the U.S. declassified documents in the 1990s revealing Camp Century was part of a top-secret attempt by the U.S. to hide launch sites for missiles in the Arctic, a strategic location much closer to Russia.

Dr. Robert Weiss tells us about his time serving at the camp and how he felt when he learned about the facility's secret purpose decades later.

Camp Century is buried below the surface of this ice cap.

This was the Cold War.

They were afraid that Russia might come across, and they needed to have military up there.

This is Dr. Robert Weiss.

In 1962, he was drafted into the U.S. military, where he began his career as a physician working under the ice at a remote Arctic research base.

Camp Century, Greenland, which is 800 miles from the North Pole, I said, you're kidding.

All I saw was a lot of snow.

Just a few years earlier, the U.S. military took unprecedented engineering efforts to build the nuclear-powered base, calling it a city under the ice.

A system of 23 trenches would be dug into the ice cap and then covered with steel arches and snow.

Except for the fact that they have no windows, the men of Camp Century live exactly as do other soldiers.

I never went outside.

I was very happy.

I read a lot of science and medicine, played chess.

In 1967, the camp closed.

Decades later, information about the camp's secret purpose was declassified, revealing it was part of a top-secret Pentagon plan to hide launch sites for missiles in the Arctic.

I mean, I'm not totally surprised.

We knew there were digging tunnels, and the whole idea was to have a subway under the But they didn't get very far on this base.

I mean, I was totally surprised about the idea of nuclear weapons being placed, which had never occurred.

Now to Greece, where the country's famous Instagram island, Santorini, is reopening to visitors for the first time since earthquakes prompted a state of emergency and evacuations on the tourist hotspot.

Between January 26th and February 22nd, the quake-rattled island of Santorini and the area around it experienced tens of thousands of minor earthquakes, recorded at a magnitude of one or higher on the Richter scale.

Our Linda Kincaid shows us how one month later, the first cruise ship of the season is reviving hope for the island's tourism industry.

The popular Greek island of Santorini experienced waves of earthquakes in January and February, causing tourists and many residents to evacuate.

But just over a month later, the first cruise ship of the season arrived at the island.

It's a sign of hope that tourism could bounce back after the earthquakes triggered a state of emergency that lasted until March 3rd.

It's exciting, yeah, to know that the island's open again and we get to visit first.

It's safe.

The picturesque island sits near the boundary of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Because of its proximity to the geographic fault lines, Santorini often experiences seismic activity.

But the most recent wave of earthquakes was not typical.

Data from the National Observatory of Athens indicated that over 1,200 earthquakes, ranging from one to 5.2 in magnitude, occurred over a two-week period.

Schools closed and construction work was halted.

But now that the quakes have died down, tourists express excitement about returning to Santorini after the government's safety assurances.

We love being the first cruise ship that got the chance to come to Santorini.

We feel really blessed.

We trust the tourism board here, and so if they said it was safe to come, we came with open arms.

The island, which attracts around 3.4 million visitors each year, is also home to around 200,000 residents.

And tourism makes up a large majority of the island's income.

We all hope that things will return to normal, that people will come back.

The cloud seems to be lifting, so things should improve for everyone.

At least, that's what we hope.

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, a skunk that you won't want to run away from.

This skunk is bringing smiles, not smells, to the people he meets.

His name is Mr. Sushi, and he's a fully domesticated, descended skunk that's registered as an emotional support animal.

Mr. Sushi's been visiting groups in his home state of Iowa, one of 17 states where you can legally own a domesticated skunk.

It's clear he's brought out quite a few sensational smiles.

How much money do skunks have?

One cent.

What's their favorite kind of music?

Funk.

And I had one more bad skunk joke, but I won't tell it because it stinks.

All right, let's head up to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Big old shout out and lots of love to the Spartans at Mount Tabor High School.

Rise up.

Thank you for spending part of your day with us.

For all the kind comments on our CNN10 YouTube channel, we are so close to hitting one million subscribers.

So a huge shout out to all of you who've joined the family.

Make it a great day.

Remember, happiness isn't some idea we have to chase or create.

It's right here, right now.

And all we have to do is embrace it.

I'm Coy Wire.

I'll see you right back here tomorrow on CNN10.