A wave of “extreme heat” hits tens of millions of Americans this weekend, with many temperature records expected in the Central and Northeast. “This heat will fuel severe weather across the northern Midwest today, with a significant threat of damaging winds, large hailstones and a few tornadoes”announced Saturday, July 23, the National Weather Service (NWS).
The sweltering heat, which shows the threat posed by global warming, was particularly felt in the capital, Washington, DC, where temperatures could flirt with 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 38 degrees Celsius, °C). New York was not spared, with temperatures close to 35°C.
The temperature could also reach 43 ° C in parts of Utah (West), Arizona (South) and in the Northeast, according to the NWS. In Boston, where the mayor, Michelle Wu, decreed a “heat-related emergency”providing for the opening of municipal places to cool off and swimming pools open longer, it could be 37 ° C on Sunday.
Giant sequoias threatened by fire in California
This heat increases the risk of fire. In the western United States, a major forest fire, dubbed “Oak Fire”, broke out Friday in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park. The giant sequoias in the park had already been threatened by fire about ten days ago.
Spread over an area of more than 2,500 hectares, the “Oak Fire” has already destroyed ten properties and damaged five others. It is not under control at all, according to a Saturday morning bulletin from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The American West has already experienced forest fires of exceptional magnitude and intensity in recent years, with a very marked lengthening of the fire season.
The planet has already recorded several heat waves this year, such as in July in Western Europe or in India in March-April. Their multiplication is an unmistakable sign of climate change, according to scientists. In June 2021, an extremely rare “heat dome” wreaked havoc on the entire west coast of the United States and Canada, killing more than five hundred people and causing major fires, with temperatures approaching 50 °C.