A global pattern of heat waves scorching parts of Europe, Asia and the United States intensified on Tuesday (Jul 18), with the World Meteorological Organization warning of an increased risk of deaths linked to excessively high temperatures.
Americans were facing a medley of extreme weather, from blazing heat from Texas to Southern California to smoke-choked air wafting into the Midwest from Canada’s wildfires. Flood warnings were up for Vermont towns that were inundated just last week, while Tropical Storm Calvin was expected to hit the Pacific island state of Hawaii later on Tuesday.
The southwestern city of Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday recorded its 19th consecutive day in which the daily high exceeded 43 degrees Celsius, breaking its all-time record of 18 days.
As temperatures in the Arizona capital climbed to 47 degrees Celsius, out-of-state visitor Amit Ghagoji, 40, set out for a hike in the trails of Phoenix’s Papago Park.
“It’s like you open an oven door and it’s the heat wave,” Bhagoji said. “If you’re, like, making cookies or something and you open the oven door, it’s going to hit you right in the face.”
Tom Frieders, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said regional high temperatures would range between 46 degrees Celsius and 48.9 degrees Celsius for five to seven more days if not longer.
“It’ll take probably some monsoon thunderstorms and cooling rains to come – hopefully, eventually – that will help to cool things down,” Frieders said.
In the northeastern state of Vermont, thunderstorms were in the forecast for areas already saturated from recent torrential rainfall, raising the risk of more flooding. Last week, high water in the capital city of Montpelier forced road closures and trapped some residents in their homes.
EUROPE SCORCHED
With baking temperatures hitting Europe during the peak summer tourist season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the heat wave in the northern hemisphere was set to intensify. An estimated 61,000 people may have died in heat waves last year in Europe alone.