Three continents were hit by record-breaking heat waves in cities across the northern hemisphere on Tuesday, less than two weeks after Earth recorded what scientists consider the days hotter of its modern history.
In Greecefirefighters scrambled to put out forest fires, as dry conditions increased the risk of more fires across Europe.
Beijing recorded another day of 95-degree heat, with residents of Hangzhou, another Chinese city, comparing the sweltering conditions to a sauna.
From middle east to the southwest of USAdelivery men, airport workers and construction crews worked under scorching skies.
Those who could stay home did.
The temperatures, which affected much of the world at the same time, were a withering reminder that the climate change It is a global crisis, caused by man:
emissions of heat-trping gases, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels.
john kerrythe US special envoy for climate change, tried to coordinate part of the global response with the Chinese premier in Beijing as a heat wave swept through a huge swath of China.
“The world expects us to lead, especially on the climate issue,” Kerry told Chinese officials.
“Climate, as you know, is a global issue, not bilateral. It is a threat to all humanity.”
The planet has warmed about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century and will continue to warm until humans stop burning coal, oil and gas, according to scientists.
Warmer temperatures contribute to extreme weather events and help make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense.
Also influencing the conditions this year is the return of The boy, a cyclical weather pattern that, depending on sea surface temperature and air pressure above it, can originate in the Pacific and have wide-ranging effects on weather around the world.
For hundreds of millions of people, it was hard to esce the heat Tuesday.
In the United States, Phoenix broke a nearly half-century record on Tuesday, with the 19th consecutive day of temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius).
Elsewhere in the country, worsening hot and humid conditions were expected along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast.
Wildfires continued for another week in Canada, where they have burned a whopping 10 million hectares so far this year, an area similar to that of Kentucky.
With more than a month to go before the peak fire season ends, 2023 has already eclipsed Canada’s annual record, which dated back to 1989.
The fires also forced the evacuation of towns south, west and north of Athensburning some 7,400 hectares of forest in Greece despite aerial water bombardments to control the flames.
“We have had fires, we have them now and we will have them in the future, and this is one of the consequences of the climate crisis that we are experiencing with increasing intensity,” declared the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis it’s a statement.
Mitsotakis broke a trip to meet European leaders in Brussels to oversee the fight against the fire.
The Greek authorities, who opened air-conditioned premises in Athens to offer some relief, are also expected to restrict access to the Acropolis to the cooler hours of the morning and evening, as they did last weekend after the collse of a tourist.
In many European cities, the authorities have introduced refrigeration stations.
And aware of the danger – more than 61,000 people died in last summer’s heat waves in Europe, according to a recent study – they have urged visitors and residents alike to stay indoors during the hottest hours of the day.
In Romewhere temperatures topped 38 degrees on Tuesday, authorities mobilized a task force to deliver water and help heat-stricken people at places like the Colosseum and open-air markets.
Similarly, the Janese authorities have been quick to help those affected by the heat:
At a festival held in Kyoto on Monday, nine people, ranging in age from 8 to 80, were taken to a hospital as temperatures touched 38 degrees.
In the city of Toyota in Aichi prefecture, where the temperature exceeded 39 degrees, the regional education council urged 415 primary and secondary schools to cancel gym classes and outdoor activities.
And in China, where a series of heat waves have ripped through the country since late last month, Beijing and other cities have seen temperatures exceeding 90 degrees on a daily basis.
Power plants, meanwhile, have broken electricity generation records, according to the official China Energy News, burning more coal to meet cooling demand.
China uses considerable amounts of solar, wind and hydropower, but remains dependent on coal for three-fifths of its electricity.
Some netizens in two provinces, Guangdong and Sichuan, reported scattered blackouts this week; State media, often slow to acknowledge energy problems, have been silent on the blackouts.
A remote village in northwest China recorded the highest temperature ever recorded in the country on Sunday:
126 degrees.
For millions of people in South and Southeast Asia, sweltering heat began long before summer. India recorded its hottest February on record, then endured high temperatures in April, when 11 people died of heat stroke in a single day, and again in May and June.
Monsoon rains have cooled temperatures across the country in just the past few weeks.
Even in regions where heat is normal – and where those who can afford it rarely go out in summer – extreme temperatures have been recorded.
According to weather data, at the Persian Gulf International Airport on the southwestern coast of Iran, the heat index – which measures how hot it really is outside based on temperature and humidity – reached an astonishing 152. degrees at 12.30 on Sunday.
The combination of 40-degree heat and soggy air, with 65% humidity, pushed conditions at the airport beyond what scientists have said humans can normally endure.
In California’s Death Valley National Park, the thermometer read just over 128 degrees on Sunday.
death Valley
It was in Death Valley, the 7,750-square-kilometre expanse of the Mojave Desert along the California-Nevada border, that the hottest temperature ever reached on Earth was recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organization. In 1913, at Furnace Creek, California, the temperature reached 56.6 degrees.
In recent years, thermometers there have come close, reaching 54.5 degrees in 2020 and 2021, and forecasters have warned it could proach the mark again this summer.
But at least this week, the National Weather Service forecast temperatures in the national park should drop, relatively speaking, to 50-51.5 degrees.
c.2023 The New York Times Company
Source: Clarin
