There is record heat in Canada and the USA. People seek refuge in refrigeration centers. Authorities call out the highest level of heat warning.
Portland – The extreme heat wave in western Canada and the northwest of the USA continues to cause temperature records: In the village of Lytton in the Canadian province of British Columbia, 47.9 degrees Celsius were measured on Monday – just one day after 46.6 degrees in the place the Canadian heat record of 1937 had been broken.
In the US metropolises of Seattle (Washington state) and Portland (Oregon), which are usually known for their cold and wet climates, temperatures climbed to 42.2 and 46.1 degrees Celsius and thus reached the highest values in the two cities since the weather records began in 1940. The US Weather Service warned the dangerous heat was likely to persist through the middle of the week.
Authorities issue “highest heat warning”
In the affected areas of Canada, the heat warning applies until the weekend. “The heat here is like in the desert,” said the chief climate researcher for the Canadian Ministry of the Environment, David Phillips, the AFP news agency. “We are the second coldest country in the world and the snowiest,” he said. “We often see cold snaps and blizzards, but we are not used to such heat”. “It would be cooler in Dubai now,” he added.
Extreme heat wave: people flee to cooling centers
Schools and vaccination centers were closed in the particularly affected areas, the authorities made air-conditioned rooms available for cooling down and had water and sun hats distributed. Beaches and swimming pools were overcrowded and the emergency services were overwhelmed. Several residents who do not have air conditioning at home and no longer have fans in the shops fled to their air-conditioned cars or underground garages overnight.
The situation was similar in the northwest of the USA. Due to the extreme heat and persistent drought, several fires broke out there over the weekend.
Hardware store has to close due to heat
In Seattle, a well-known farmers market had to close for the first time due to heat, as its manager Doug Farr reported. “So far it was mostly because of snow,” he said. The Amazon group made part of its headquarters available to residents, whose apartments are often without air conditioning, as a cool place of refuge.
Normally temperatures of 19 degrees prevail in June in the Pacific metropolis. “At 21 degrees it is a nice day, everyone is outside in shorts and T-shirts,” one resident told AFP. “But this is getting absurd.”
A small increase in the long-term average temperature leads to a disproportionate increase in daily occurrences of extreme heat.
This makes heatwaves more likely. pic.twitter.com/0x420mlr7K
— Climate Central (@ClimateCentral) June 22, 2021
Extreme heat: to be expected every few thousand years
The phenomenon of the “heat dome” is responsible for the extreme heat, which means that the high pressure in the atmosphere holds the hot air in the region. According to weather experts at the Washington Post , the intensity of this heat dome is “statistically so rare that on average it can only be expected once every few thousand years”. However, man-made climate change “made these types of extraordinary events more likely”.
In February, a historic onset of winter in the USA made headlines: In the US state of Texas, more than 60,000 households were without electricity.
In Germany, the German Weather Service (DWD) warns of extreme storms. (afp) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
Header list image: © SPENCER PLATT / afp
