More than 80 million people in the US under alerts for sweltering heat wave

More than 80 million people were this Sunday under official warnings or forecasts of heat waves excessive in western, southern, and southeastern states USAhit in some cases by record temperatures.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Sunday of “a widespread and sweltering heat wave” across much of the west to the southeast, temperatures that will continue into next week and increase health risks for millions of residents.

“Widespread record high temperatures, as well as record warm lows, are expected in parts of the Southwest, along the western Gulf Coast, and in southern Florida,” the NWS said in a report released on the day.

– ‘Potentially deadly’ –

In the city of Houston, in the southern state of Texas, residents have been asked to save electricity between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. from Saturday to Monday, in an attempt to mitigate high demand due to heat.

On their side, the inhabitants of southern (western) California, who saw thermometers reach maximums of 41 ° C to 43 ° C on Saturday, face a second day of sweltering temperatures. The thermometer is expected to exceed 46 ° C in some parts of that state as well as in those of Nevada and Arizona, according to the NWS.

On Saturday afternoon, the famous Death Valley of California, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a temperature of about 51 ° C and this Sunday afternoon it was around 47 ° C, with forecasts of up to 53 ºC.Tourists visited that national park to experience heat that the NWS warned would be “life-threatening”, which will last until Tuesday night.

Eliana Luna, one of the visitors, told MSNBC on Sunday that the heat gave her a “burning sensation” in her body. “You can feel it go down your back to the bottom,” she said.

Also on Saturday, the city of Idyllwild, east of Los Angeles and about 1,645 meters above sea level, surpassed its previous record to reach 37.7°C.. In Imperial, east of San Diego, California, the daily record of 46.6 °C was matched. The NWS stressed that heat is the leading cause of weather-related death in the United States and urged the population to take that risk as something serious.

“In total, from South Florida and the Gulf Coast to the Southwest, more than 80 million people remain under an Excessive Heat Warning or Heat Wave Advisory as of this morning,” according to the NWS.

Authorities have extended their warnings for days, advising people to avoid outdoor activities during the day and to stay constantly hydrated to avoid fatalities in such temperatures.

Phoenix, the capital of the state of Arizona, has registered 16 consecutive days above 42.7 °C. On Saturday afternoon temperatures reached 47.7°C and stayed above 32°C overnight.

The city has organized volunteer corps to direct residents to climate-controlled centers and to distribute water bottles and hats, but program director David Hondula told ABC that his three-day-a-week homework schedule “ clearly… not enough.”

– Atypical heat –

Heat waves are being recorded with greater frequency and intensity in the main cities of the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

They had a frequency of six times a year during the 2010s and 2020s compared to two a year during the 1960s. “This heat wave is NOT typical desert heat,” said the Las Vegas office of the NWS on its Twitter account, specifying that “its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures and warm nights” were unusual.

Neighboring Canada is suffering with waves of high temperatures combined with months of below-average rainfall, bringing the amount of land burned by devastating wildfires so far in 2023 to an all-time high of 10 million acres on Saturday.

“This year we find ourselves with worse figures than our most pessimistic scenarios,” Yan Boulanger, a researcher at Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP.

Authorities in Bucks County, in eastern Pennsylvania, reported four people dead and three others missing on Sunday after a storm the previous day, which also caused flash flooding that swept away vehicles.

Prepared with information from AFP