2023-07-16 10:41:46
July 16, 2023
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In Xiangyang, Hubei, citizens jumped into the Han River to cool off the heat.
From China to Europe to North America, reports of record high temperatures around the world came one following another in July.
Severe high temperatures not only caused heat stroke deaths, but also exacerbated the already tense energy supply in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, El Niño conditions have been formed in the tropical Pacific Ocean for the first time in seven years.
However, the second year following an El Niño tends to be most pronounced, meaning next summer might also be unseasonably hot.
China
On July 11, the Chinese lunar calendar officially falls, starting the hottest “dog days”.
Before and following that, there were record-breaking high-temperature weather in northern China for many consecutive days. In early July, the temperature in Beijing exceeded 35 degrees Celsius for nine consecutive days, and even exceeded 40 degrees Celsius on July 6. According to statistics from the China Central Meteorological Observatory, this is the first time since 1961.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism revealed that a 48-year-old tour guide died of heatstroke following collapsing while leading a tour group at the Summer Palace last Sunday. The news sparked widespread discussion on the Chinese Internet.
Not only Beijing, but also Tianjin, central and southern Hebei, Shandong, northern Henan, and northern Jiangsu and Anhui have experienced high temperatures. According to Chinese media reports, for eight consecutive years, high temperatures have occurred in North China from mid-June to early July.
The Central Meteorological Observatory of China issued a yellow warning for high temperature on July 14. Xinjiang, central and eastern North China, northern and western Huanghuai, Jiangnan, and southern China have high temperature weather above 35°C. Among them, the Turpan Basin in Xinjiang and the southeastern part of Fujian can reach 40°C or above.
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On July 13, Shanghai issued an orange high temperature warning.
Kitami
In the U.S., nearly a third of Americans, or 113 million people, are currently under a heat warning from Florida to California and Washington state.
The National Weather Service (NWS) urged people not to underestimate the life-threatening heat.
Last Saturday, Phoenix, Arizona recorded a record high temperature of 48 degrees Celsius. The temperature here has reached 43 degrees Celsius for 16 consecutive days, almost setting a record. Even local clinics treated homeless people with third-degree burns.
Meanwhile, California’s Death Valley – one of the hottest places in the world – is expected to reach 54C, approaching the hottest temperature ever recorded reliably on Earth. The San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert and Great Basin regions might also set local records Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
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July 2023, Houston, Texas, USA.
In Nevada, Las Vegas, in the heart of the desert, may also reach a record high temperature of 47 degrees Celsius in the next few days. Local weather officials warned locals who thought they might handle the heat that this was not your typical desert heat.
“This heat wave is not a typical desert heat wave because it lasts for a long time, with extremely high temperatures during the day and warm nights. Everyone needs to take this heat wave seriously, including those who live in the desert,” the official said.
An update from the National Weather Service late Saturday said the temperatures would be “a health risk and potentially fatal without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that regarding 700 people in the United States die each year from heat-related causes.
In Canada, wildfires sparked by high temperatures have covered parts of the country, local officials said.
Europe
Last month was the hottest June on record, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service.
Southern Europe is set to continue its sweltering week next week as an intense heat wave shows no signs of abating.
Italy, Spain and Greece have experienced hot weather for several days in a row.
Italy’s health ministry issued a weekend red alert for 16 cities, including Rome, Bologna and Florence.
According to Italian media reports, the heat wave is expected to continue until next week, with Sardinia possibly reaching 48 degrees Celsius.
However, this temperature is slightly lower than the European record of 48.8 degrees Celsius set in Sicily in August 2021.
Sardinia will be at the center of next week’s heat wave – which forecasters have dubbed Charon, following the Greek myth of the ferryman who sent souls to the underworld – Italy’s weather service said.
“Temperatures will peak between July 19 and 23 – not only in Italy, but also in Greece, Turkey and the Balkans,” Italian meteorologist and climate expert Giulio Betti told the BBC, while Several historical high temperature records in these areas are likely to be broken in these days.
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The Italian government has advised anyone in areas covered by a red alert on Saturday to avoid direct sunlight between 11:00 and 18:00, and to take special care of the elderly or vulnerable.
In Rome, a 59-year-old tour guide told the BBC that the soaring temperatures combined with the overcrowding made her feel “sick”. Rome is always hot, but this time it lasted much longer than usual. “My tour guide friends and I were under a lot of stress. Someone passed out on the tour and there were ambulances everywhere,” she said.
At the same time, the temperature in Greece has reached above 40 degrees Celsius in recent days, and the Acropolis, the country’s most popular tourist attraction, even had to close the attraction during the hottest hours on Friday and Saturday to protect the safety of tourists.
In Spain’s Canary Islands, a forest fire on the island of La Palma on Saturday morning forced the evacuation of at least 4,000 people and has so far burned 4,500 hectares of forest.
Hot periods occur in natural weather patterns, but globally, they are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting due to global warming.
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Shanghai installs water mist sprinklers on the street
El Nino
On July 4, the World Meteorological Organization announced that El Niño conditions were formed in the tropical Pacific region for the first time in seven years. It is expected that the temperature in most parts of the world will rise further in the future, and record high temperatures may appear within five years.
The World Meteorological Organization claims that there is a 90% chance that an El Niño event will occur between July and September 2023 and last until the end of the year, and it will be at least moderately strong.
Professor Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said that the appearance of El Niño would greatly increase the possibility of breaking the temperature record, and there may be more extreme heat in many parts of the world, even in the ocean.
He pointed out: “The World Meteorological Organization’s announcement of El Niño is a signal to governments around the world to mobilize countries to prepare in advance to contain the impact on health, ecosystems and economies. Early warning and monitoring of extreme weather events related to this major climate phenomenon Predictive action is critical to saving lives and livelihoods.”
El Niño occurs on average every two to seven years and usually lasts 9 to 12 months. This is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. But it’s also happening once morest the backdrop of climate change caused by human activity.
A report released by the World Meteorological Organization in May this year predicted that due to the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and the El Niño phenomenon, at least one of the five years from 2023 to 2027 will break the high temperature record set in 2016, with a probability of 98%.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the impact of the El Niño phenomenon on global temperature is usually manifested within one year following it appears, so the impact of this El Niño phenomenon on the temperature may be most obvious in 2024.
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