2023-07-15 22:03:41
The west and much of the southern United States are in the throes of an “extremely dangerous” heat wave this weekend, according to the national weather service, with temperatures reaching as high as 120°F (47°C) in some cities.
“An overwhelming and extremely dangerous heat wave is expected to hit the West this weekend, as well as parts of the South,” the US National Weather Service (NWS) warned in a bulletin released Saturday morning.
“Several temperature records are likely to be set, and air quality issues will be common in several regions of the United States,” the NWS added.
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And relief isn’t likely to come anytime soon for the more than 90 million Americans under high-temperature watch, as the heat dome is expected to “remain stationary over (these regions) for the next several days,” the NWS forecast.
In Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, one of the most affected states, in the southwestern United States, 47 ° C was expected late in the afternoon, in what was to be the 16th consecutive day of highs above 43 ° c.
In southern California (west), firefighters have been fighting several very violent fires since Friday that have devastated more than 1,214 hectares and caused the evacuation of the population.
According to climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, the level of mercury in Death Valley could equal or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth, or 54, 4 °C registered in the same place in 2020 and 2021, according to several experts.
Other regions of the United States are also at risk from severe weather.
“Strong to violent thunderstorms, torrential rains, and flooding are possible in a number of locations, particularly and unfortunately in New England, which is already saturated” from recent rainfall, according to the NWS.
This region of the northeast of the country, and in particular the state of Vermont, suffered this week “historic and catastrophic” flooding as a result of torrential rains.
In neighboring Canada, the number of forest fires continues to increase, especially in the west of the country, where several hundred igneous sources were registered in a few days, most of them caused by electrical storms.
And the situation is not going to improve, since “hot and dry weather is expected for the next few months,” Sarah Budd, of the Forest Fire Service of the Canadian province of British Columbia, told AFP: “We do not expect any weather truce ”, he acknowledged.
More than 10 million hectares have already burned across the country this year, 11 times the annual average for the past decade.
The absolute annual record, set in 1989, was far surpassed and the number is expected to continue to rise, according to official projections.
In addition, the smoke from the fires in Canada once again sent plumes of smoke towards the neighbor to the south. Several states in the northern United States, such as Montana and North Dakota, have reported “harmful” levels of air quality.
According to experts, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing the strength, duration, and frequency of heat waves.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remarked that “heat waves are occurring more frequently than ever in major US cities.”
“Its frequency has increased steadily, from an average of two heat waves a year in the 1960s to six a year in the 2010s and 2020s,” he noted.
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