Latest Headlines and Breaking News from Around the World
Fresh newsfor 2023
Extreme Heat in the U.S., By the Numbers
All signs indicate that this will be one of the hottest summers on record, as a heat wave scorches the Northern Hemisphere. Large portions of the United States are experiencing record temperatures — and the growing danger and discomfort that come with them.
Phoenix, one of America’s hottest cities, has never been this hot for this long. And many other places across the country are enduring unusually high temperatures, both as the sun beats down during the day and when it drops below the horizon at night.
Daily global surface air temperatures for every year since 1979
64° F
July 17, 2023
62°
2022
60°
1979-2021
58°
56°
54°
52°
50°
Jan. 1
Mar. 1
May 1
July 1
Sep. 1
Nov. 1
Dec. 31
64° F
July 17, 2023
62°
2022
60°
1979-2021
58°
56°
54°
52°
50°
May 1
Jan. 1
Sep. 1
Dec. 31
Source: Climate Reanalyzer, Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine, based on data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System
Here’s what the numbers tell us about the heat and how it is affecting Americans:
About 78.5 million people — just under a quarter of the U.S. population — live in areas that are expected to endure dangerous levels of heat on Friday, according to a New York Times analysis of forecast and population data from the U.S. government.
The heat in Phoenix has been unrelenting. Thursday was the 21st straight day that temperatures in the city climbed to 110 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Until this year, the longest streak of 110-plus days was 18, a record set in 1974.
Phoenix reached 119 degrees on Thursday — the fourth consecutive day with highs at 115 or above. And the nights are no better: Low temperatures have not dropped below 90 for 12 consecutive days — also a record. The low on Friday morning was 92 degrees.
Through Thursday, Phoenix’s average temperature for July was 102.4 degrees. With no relief in sight, the city is likely to finish the month with an average temperature of 100 degrees or above. That would break its previous record for the warmest month, set in August 2020 with an average of 99.1 degrees.
The heat has been deadly. A report published on Wednesday by the Department of Public Health in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is, confirmed that at least 18 people had died of “heat-associated deaths” since April. Sixty-nine more deaths are under investigation, according to the report. Deaths from heat have been climbing steadily in Maricopa County since 2014, officials said, increasing by 25 percent from 2021 to 2022.
In Death Valley National Park, where temperatures last weekend approached a world record, a 71-year-old man died while hiking on Tuesday. Although a coroner had not yet determined a cause of death for the hiker, Steve Curry, park officials said temperatures had climbed to 121 degrees that afternoon. The Los Angeles Times had interviewed Mr. Curry for an article about the heat just hours before his death.
It’s potentially the second heat-related death in Death Valley this month; a 65-year-old man died of apparent heat illness in the park on July 3, officials said.
In another famously hot city, Las Vegas, forecasters warn that temperatures are also spiking to dangerous levels. The heat on concrete sidewalks there reached 144 degrees this week in the sun, and 126.5 degrees in the shade, according to the National Weather Service. The city is under an excessive heat warning through Sunday, with temperatures forecast to reach 116 degrees this weekend.
The heat is spreading well beyond the desert Southwest. Record or near-record temperatures are forecast in parts of southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho over the next five to six days. Boise, Idaho, is expected to reach 106 degrees on Saturday.
In Texas on Friday, El Paso reached its 36th straight day of temperatures climbing to 100 degrees or higher. San Angelo also kept a streak going on Friday, reaching 13 straight days of triple-digit temperatures.
John Keefe contributed reporting.
Posted on 21 Jul 2023 23:08 link