Death Valley in the United States reaches 51 degrees Celsius; Europe and Asia have extreme temperatures

Tens of millions of people suffered on Sunday, 26, a heat wave Continuing in the Northern Hemisphere, with extreme temperatures in the United States, Europe and Asia, per a new illustration of greenhouse effects.

in the United States of America, More than 80 million people have woken up to official heatwave warnings or forecasts In the western, southern and southeastern states. Death Valley, California, reached 51 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

In Europe, where warming is progressing twice as fast as the global average, according to experts, Many countries have recorded extreme temperatures.

The US National Weather Service (NWS) has warned “Extensive and stifling heat wave” across much of the West into the American Southeast, with sweltering temperatures that will continue all week and raise health risks for millions of residents.

“Record widespread high temperatures, as well as record warm daily lows, are expected in parts of the southwest, along the western Gulf Coast and southern Florida,” the NWS said in a report released today.

In Houston, Texas, residents have been asked to conserve electricity between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. from Saturday to Monday, in an effort to mitigate high demand due to the heat.

Southern California residents, who saw thermometers reach their highest levels 41°C to 43°C And on Saturday, the 15th, they face a second day of stifling temperatures, with the thermometer expected to top 46 degrees Celsius in some parts of that state, as well as in Nevada and Arizona, according to the NWS.

On Saturday afternoon, California’s famed Death Valley – one of the hottest places on Earth – reached a potentially deadly temperature of around 51 degrees Celsius It is expected to reach a peak 54 degrees Celsius This Sunday.

Also on Saturday, the town of Idyllwild, east of Los Angeles and at an altitude of about 1,600 meters above sea level, surpassed the previous record and reached 37.7 degrees Celsius.

In Imperial, east of San Diego (California), the daily record of 46.6°C has been equaled. The NWS has confirmed that heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States and urged the public to take this risk seriously.

According to the NWS, “In total, from southern Florida and the Gulf Coast to the Southwest, more than 80 million people remain under an overheat warning or heat wave warning as of this morning.”

Authorities extended their alerts by several days, advising people to avoid outdoor activities during the day and to stay constantly hydrated to avoid fatalities at these temperatures.

In Arizona, the state capital Phoenix has recorded 16 consecutive days above 42.7°C. On Saturday afternoon, temperatures reached 47.7°C and stayed above 32°C throughout the night.

The city has organized teams of volunteers to direct residents to climate centers and distribute water bottles and hats, but program director David Hondola told the American channel ABC that her three-day-a-week schedule is “clearly not enough”.

Heatwaves are occurring with greater frequency and intensity in major cities across the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They occurred six times a year during 2010 and 2020, compared to twice a year in the 1960s.

“This heat wave is not typical desert heat,” the NWS office in Las Vegas noted on its Twitter account, specifying that its “long duration, extreme daytime temperatures and hot nights” were unusual.

Neighboring Canada is experiencing bouts of high temperatures combined with months of below-average precipitation, resulting in a record amount of 10 million hectares of land have been burned by forest fires Destroyed so far in 2023.

“This year we’re looking at numbers worse than our worst-case scenario,” said Yann Boulanger, a researcher with Natural Resources Canada.

In Italy, 16 cities are on high alert, with highs of 36 and 37 degrees Celsius. Despite this, some 15,000 pilgrims and tourists, according to the Vatican’s gendarmerie, gathered in St. Peter’s Square to take part in the traditional Angelus in Pope Francis at noon.

Among them was François Mbemba, a 29-year-old Congolese priest who said Rome was “hotter than Africa”. “The heat goes on into the night and we’re having a hard time sleeping. We’re dressed in black, and we’re sweating like hell,” he said.

Spain is about to face a new heat wave, albeit a brief one, after going through a very hot week, the consequences of which are still being felt in The Spanish island of La Palma, where about 5,000 hectares of fire burned This weekend and forced the evacuation of 4,000 people.

The island itself, located off the northwest coast of Africa, has already suffered severe consequences A volcano erupts in late 2021. “I feel helpless seeing everything burn, seeing two cities completely evacuated, knowing that there are people who lost everything to the volcano and rebuild their lives in the north and now they are being evacuated again and they are in danger of losing everything,” Patricia Sanchez, 37, worker in the Spanish Red Cross.

The Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) issued orange alerts for high temperatures (38 to 42 degrees Celsius) in large areas of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands on Monday, in addition to a red alert (extreme danger) also on Monday in the regions of Andalusia and on Tuesday in Aragon, Catalonia, and Majorca (42 to 44 degrees Celsius).

In Greece, where temperatures are expected to drop slightly, the authorities decided to keep the Acropolis in Athens closed on Sundays from 1pm to 5pm.

In Asia, storms add to the extreme temperatures. In Japan, authorities issued a heat wave warning for 20 out of the country’s 47 prefectures, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius.

In Tokyo, where the temperature reached 36 degrees Celsius, Colin Greyson, a 24-year-old French tourist, said, “Just walking is exhausting.” The heat wave affects the east and southwest of the Japanese archipelago, While other areas suffer from heavy rains that left at least eight victims in recent days..

In South Korea, rescuers are trying to save people trapped in a flooded tunnel. China also issued several warnings of high temperatures and warned that it could reach 45 degrees Celsius in the (northeastern) Xinjiang region, a partial desert, and 39 degrees Celsius in the southern Guangxi region.

Heat is one of the deadliest meteorological events, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently reported. Last summer, in Europe alone, more than 60,000 people died from the heat, according to a recent study./ France Press agency