Phoenix, a city in Arizona, broke a record set in 1974 by experiencing temperatures of 43.3 degrees Celsius or higher for the 19th straight day on Tuesday, July 18. Millions of people have been impacted by intense heat waves that have hit Asia, Europe, and North America in addition to North America.A distant hamlet in China experienced temperatures of 52 degrees Celsius on July 16, breaking the previous record of 50 degrees Celsius that had been set in 2015. This occurred when flames were raging in portions of Canada, Greece, and Spain. The average daily worldwide temperature also reached 17.01 degrees Celsius on July 3 for the first time ever, and it continued to rise over the next several days, reaching its highest point on July 6 when the temperature surged to 17.23 degrees Celsius.The world’s dangerously high temperatures serve as a clear reminder that climate change is a universal problem. Extreme weather events, like those taking place right now, will happen more frequently as the globe continues to warm as a result of the excessive release of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The advent of the El Nino weather pattern, which is known to have extensive influence on weather systems throughout areas, has made the situation worse in the meantime. Here is a thorough look at how the ongoing heat waves have affected various regions of the world.A scorching heat wave has also affected California and southern Nevada in the USA, in addition to Arizona. The World Meteorological Organisation observed in a report released on Tuesday (July 18) that “On the weekend of 15-16 July, excessive heat warnings and advisories covered more than 100 million people with “dangerous and sweltering heat,” especially across much of the Western USA.”Forecasts indicate that the country’s southern, western, and midwestern regions will continue to swelter in the days to come. This is partly because of unusually warm waters in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, which would increase coastal humidity and thwart nighttime cooling. Arizona is projected to have days that reach 46.7 °C till July 21. Overnight lows are also predicted to reach more than 32.3 °C.High temperatures in the neighbouring country of Canada have fueled wildfires that have consumed roughly 25 million acres so far. The worst wildfire season ever was underway as of July 16, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, with a total of 887 wildfires raging across the nation.
Different regions of Europe have seen record-breaking temperatures and wildfires, much like North America. Two heat waves that have hit the continent in quick succession have unofficially taken the names of characters from Greek mythology like Cerberus and Charon.Italy, one of the most impacted nations, had temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius on Tuesday (July 18) in Rome and on the island of Sardinia. Health authorities issued red weather advisories for 20 of the country’s 27 major cities in response to the rapidly deteriorating weather, with the number projected to grow to 23 on Wednesday.Similar conditions occurred in Greece, where temperatures surpassed the 40 degree Celsius threshold, forcing officials to close the Acropolis and other historic sites to visitors on July 14. As a result, officials modified the hours of operation at major tourist attractions to help staff members deal with the extreme heat. In addition, dry circumstances have led to wildfires in Athens’ southern, western, and northern regions. Firefighters have been battling the blaze despite aircraft water bombardments and the burning of more than 7,400 acres of forest, according to The New York Times.La Palma, the farthest northwesterly of Spain’s Canary Islands, has also been the subject of reports of a wildfire. Since it began on July 15, the fire has destroyed 10,000 acres of land and forced roughly 4,000 people from their homes. In an effort to put out the fires, more than 500 firemen are working with multiple water-carrying helicopters.France is also suffering from the extreme heat. On Tuesday, DW reported that temperatures in Verdun, in the Pyrenees foothills, a mountain range straddling France and Spain, reached a record 40.6 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 29.5 degrees Celsius set in the Alpine ski resort of Alpe d’Huez, which is situated at a height of 1,860 metres.To make matters worse, the bulk of Europe is not expected to have an immediate break from the weather, and it may continue throughout August, according to a new WMO projection. According to The Guardian, high temperatures are also anticipated in several areas of Croatia, Serbia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.Since June, China has been scorching due to a string of heat waves, which culminated in a record-breaking high of 52 degrees Celsius on July 16 in the northwest township of Sanbao in Xinjiang’s Turpan Depression. Notably, the nation has seen extreme weather conditions recently; just six months ago, it experienced minus 50 degrees Celsius.Several regions of West Asian nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran also saw record high temperatures. While temperatures on Tuesday exceeded 50 degrees Celsius in Saudi Arabia, they remained almost the same in a number of Iraqi cities. The heat index, which gauges how hot it actually feels outside based on temperature and humidity, reached an unusual high of 152 degrees Fahrenheit (66.7 Celsius) at 12:30 on Sunday, according to the NYT.In contrast to the aforementioned nations, India, where heat waves are predicted to erupt in July, has seen substantial monsoon rains recently, keeping temperatures under control. The nation, however, experienced the hottest February on record this year, followed by a scorching April.Extreme weather conditions are directly related to global warming, say researchers. Since the beginning of the industrial era, the earth has warmed by 1.16 degrees Celsius as a result of people continuing to burn fossil fuels at previously unheard-of rates. As a result, carbon emissions have accumulated in the Earth’s atmosphere. The geography and ecosystem of the Earth have been severely impacted by this.According to environmentalist Anjal Prakash, who has previously worked with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “the carbon dioxide that builds up in the atmosphere… traps heat, leading to what is also known as the greenhouse gas effect — the Earth acts like a greenhouse where heat gets entrapped inside,” she said to Al Jazeera.Mass-scale flooding, drought, lethal heat waves, extraordinarily heavy rainfalls, and other similar disasters are occurring more frequently than ever before as a result. And until global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to almost zero, they will increase in frequency. Scientists have also noted that irreparable harm to the planet’s environment, which would negatively affect people and other living things, may result from the Earth exceeding the 1.5 degree Celsius global warming limit by the 2030s.El Nino circumstances that have emerged for the first time in seven years are another cause of the current dilemma of high temperatures on many continents. El Nino, which is essentially a weather pattern, is known to “greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean,” according to a WMO report. El Nino refers to an abnormal warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
