Extreme heat is suffocating continents around the world, with record temperatures expected for Tuesday in the United States and several European nations.
About 63 million people in the US are under heat alerts from Southern California to Miami. A searing heat wave in southern Europe is also reaching its peak, fueling widespread triple-digit temperatures in Spain, Italy and Greece. Meanwhile, China and other parts of Asia have been baking for weeks.
These punitive heat waves, many of which persist for long periods of time, are expected to become a fixture of a warming world. Studies have shown that climate change is making extreme heat events more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting.
In the US, more heat records are expected to fall this week. Phoenix is on track Tuesday to set a record for the most consecutive days at or above 110 degrees F. The previous record of 18 days was set in 1974, according to the National Weather Service. The city hit 116 F on Monday, which also tied a daily high temperature record set in 2005, according to the Phoenix weather service office.
The week-long heat wave is putting pressure on some area hospitals as patients seek treatment for dehydration, heat exhaustion and other heat-related illnesses.
“They are kind of post-Covid issues where we still have a nursing shortage and we still have ancillary staff shortages,” said Dr. Kara Geren, an emergency medicine physician at Valleywise Health in Phoenix. “So you have less staff to focus on emergency patients, and that’s definitely putting a strain on the system.”
Geren said he expects his hospital to remain busy for the next few days.
“Temperatures will stay high and people still have to do what they have to do, so I really don’t think anything is going to change anytime soon,” he said.
There is little relief on the horizon for the Southwest. The sweltering heat is expected to continue to roast the region throughout the week and will also spread to much of the southern part of the country.
“Record heat is expected in the states from Four Corners, Texas to the Lower Mississippi Valley and southern Florida each day,” said the The National Weather Service said in its short-term forecastadding that daily low temperatures will also remain elevated, “allowing for minimal relief from the heat overnight.”
Triple-digit temperatures are expected across much of Texas. The city of El Paso, nestled on the border with Mexico, has been sweltering for more than a month followed by temperatures above 100 F and is expected to reach its 33rd day on Tuesday.
In Europe, potentially record temperatures are expected this week.
Twenty cities in Italy are under red alert heat warnings, and temperatures in some parts of the country could reach 115 to 118 F. Widespread heat alerts are in effect in Spain, where temperatures of 110 F or higher are expected in the Balearic Islands, off the east coast of the country.
The heat is exacerbating wildfires on the continent. Several fires that broke out near Athens forced thousands of evacuations on Monday. reported youthe associated press.
