2023-07-17 07:15:00
17.07.2023 09:15
(Akt. 17.07.2023 09:20)
Cooling down somehow: The US South and West are suffering ©APA/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
Millions of people in the western and southern United States felt the relentless heat with new record temperatures on Sunday. The National Weather Service NWS again warned of the “oppressive and extremely dangerous heat wave”. In Canada, the fire brigade, which has been fighting the devastating forest fires for weeks, has now reported the second death in its ranks. Some parts of Nevada and Southern California were measured at 46 degrees Celsius.
“From southern Florida to the Gulf Coast to the Southwest, more than 80 million people remain on either an excessive heat warning or heat warnings,” the U.S. Weather Service said. The heat, which poses health risks, is expected to continue for several days. In the famous Death Valley in California, one of the hottest places in the world, it was 52 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The previous reliably registered record was 54.4 degrees in 2020 and 2021.
Visitors got an impression of the “life-threatening daytime heat” according to the NWS, which is expected to last until Tuesday evening. The heat feels like “burning” on the skin, Eliana Luna told MSNBC. “You can feel the heat running down your back.” The town of Idyllwild, east of Los Angeles, 1,645 meters above sea level, set a new heat record of 37.7 degrees on Saturday.
In Phoenix, in the southwestern state of Arizona, 45 degrees were reached on Sunday afternoon – for the city it was the 17th day in a row with high temperatures above 43 degrees. Already in the morning hours 34 degrees Celsius were measured – also a new record. The city has an extreme heat warning until Wednesday evening.
“We’re used to 43, 44 degrees, but not that kind of track,” said Nancy Leonard, a 64-year-old retiree from the suburb of Peoria. Because of the intense heat, she only goes outside with the dog in the morning for a few minutes and then again in the evening before sunset. “You just have to adapt,” she says.
In Salt Lake City, the capital of the state of Utah, the thermometer climbed to 41 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The previous record for July 16 was 39 degrees. For the first time ever, the Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for Miami, Florida, as a “felt” temperature of 44 degrees was expected due to the mix of heat and humidity. “It’s hell, it’s hot, it’s insanely hot,” said vacationer Lola Cee on famed Ocean Boulevard. “I’ve never experienced heat like this before,” she added.
Residents of the city of Houston, Texas, were asked to save energy between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Monday to relieve the load on the power grid. “This heat wave is not typical desert heat,” the NWS Las Vegas office said on Twitter on Thursday. “Their long duration, extreme daytime temperatures and warm nights” are unusual, the weather service said.
A so-called heat dome has formed over the southern United States, a high pressure area that traps the heat like a lid in a region. Heat is the deadliest weather phenomenon in the United States most years. According to scientists, climate change is making heat waves more frequent, hotter and longer lasting.
Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Pennsylvania, authorities said five people were killed in flooding caused by heavy rains. Two children were still missing after Saturday’s storm. According to this, 18 centimeters of rain fell within an hour. Cars were swept away by the water masses.
After the death of a Canadian firefighter on Thursday, a firefighter succumbed to injuries sustained while fighting the blaze over the weekend, according to rescue workers in the Northwest Territories. In total, more than ten million hectares of land have been destroyed by forest fires in Canada this year, more than ever before and roughly the size of Portugal.
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