Temperature records are smashed across the globe, with extreme heat experienced from California to China – as experts warn of more ‘intense heatwaves’
- Health warnings are in place today in parts of Asia, Europe and North America
- Authorities warned of the health dangers brought by the searing temperatures
Temperature records have been smashed across the world as new heat streaks were set from China to California – with brutal weather expected to ravage the globe again Wednesday.
Wildfires raged and health warnings were in place today in parts of Asia, Europe, and North America, as experts warned again that the world needs to prepare for more ‘intense heatwaves’.
Firefighters battled blazes in parts of Greece and the Canary Islands while Spain issued heat alerts and some children in Italy’s Sardinia were told to stay away from sports.
From California to China, authorities warned of the health dangers brought by searing temperatures, urging people to drink water and shelter from the sun.
As fresh highs were also recorded in France, scientists warned that the target to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels is moving beyond reach.
A heat map made shows the devastating temperatures across the world as further brutal weather is expected to ravage the globe on Wednesday.
Three children attempt to cool off in a fountain in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles
Tourists bask in the heat as they spend the summer at the Golden Beach in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province
Beijing broke a 23-year-old record with 27 consecutive days of temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), forecasters said.
Phoenix broke a similar record, in place for 49 years, with its 19th consecutive day of temperatures of 43.3 Celsius (109.9 Fahrenheit) or higher, weather officials said.
In southern France, a record 29.5C was recorded in the Alpine ski resort of Alpe d’Huez, while 40.6C (85.1F) had been recorded for the first time in Verdun in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
In a stark reminder of the effects of global warming, the UN’s World Meteorological Agency (WMO) said the trend showed ‘no signs of decreasing’.
‘These events will continue to grow in intensity, and the world needs to prepare for more intense heatwaves,’ John Nairn, a senior extreme heat adviser at the WMO told reporters in Geneva.
Northwest of the Greek capital Athens, columns of smoke loomed over the forest of Dervenohoria, where one of several fires around the capital and beyond was still burning.
Fire spokesman Yannis Artopios called it ‘a difficult day’, with another heatwave on the horizon for Thursday, with expected temperatures of 44C (111.2F).
A forest fire by the seaside resort of Loutraki, where the mayor said 1,200 children had been evacuated Monday from holiday camps, was still burning.
A man puts his head in the water to cool off at the fountain in Piazza del Popolo in Rome yesterday
A fireman douses flames on a wildfire at Panorama settlement near Agioi Theodori, some 70 kms west of Athens, yesterday
A firefighting helicopter drops water as a wildfire hits at Panorama settlement near Agioi Theodori in Greece
A policeman evacuates a child from wildfire at the village of Agios Charalampos in Greece
A Phoenix Fire Department firefighter uses a hose line to extinguish a Ford F150 pickup truck that caught fire during a record heat wave in Arizona yesterday
A resident splashes water to cool off on a sweltering day at an urban waterway in Beijing
A woman wearing a sun protection clothing cools herself with an electric fan as visitors line up to visit the Panda enclosure on a sweltering day at a zoo in Beijing
In the Canary Islands, some 400 firefighters battled a blaze that has ravaged 3,500 hectares of forest and forced 4,000 residents to evacuate, with authorities warning residents to wear face masks outside due to poor air quality.
Temperatures were unforgiving in Italy and in Spain, where three regions were put under hot weather red alerts.
‘You can’t be in the street, it’s horrible,’ said Lidia Rodriguez, 27, in Madrid.
The Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily have been forecast to possibly surpass a continent-wide record of 48.8C recorded in Sicily in August 2021.
At Lanusei, near Sardinia’s eastern coast, a children’s summer camp was restricting beach visits to the early morning and forbidding sports, teacher Morgana Cucca told AFP.
In the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, pharmacist Teresa Angioni said patients were complaining of heat-related symptoms.
‘They mainly buy magnesium and potassium supplements and ask us to measure their blood pressure, which is often low,’ Angioni said.
Many throughout Italy sought escape by the sea, including outside Rome, where the midday heat hit 40C.
Pine trees burn during a wild fire in Agia Sotira, east near Athens, as Europe braced for new high temperatures
A man puts dogs in the car to evacuate the area as a wildfire burns, in the village of Agios Charalampos
Smoke from a wildfire rises in the background as a major fire burns west of Athens
A billboard displays a temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit during a record heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, yesterday
Sweat drips from a person as they grasp at their head covering while walking in the sun through a vast homeless encampment during a record heat wave in Phoenix
People sit under the shade of tents at a cafe after officials maintain alert level 2 as temperatures above 40 degrees in Madrid yesterday
‘Certainly it’s better at the beach, you can at least get a little wind from the sea. It’s not even possible to remain in the city, too hot,’ said Virginia Cesario, 30, at the Focene beach near the capital.
Tens of millions of Americans experienced dangerous heat levels on Tuesday.
In the town of San Angelo, Texas, where temperatures were expected to reach 104-108F (40-42C), the National Weather Service said it was ‘running out of ways to say that it’s gonna be hot out there today.’
‘With temperatures across the area likely topping the 105 mark yet again, we implore you to continue to practice heat safety and try to stay cool,’ the agency said on Twitter.
And in Arizona, the mercury at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport again reached 110F on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 18 consecutive days at or above that temperature, set in 1974.
A Canadair CL-415 sprays water during a wildfire in the village of Pournari, near Athens, yesterday
A Phoenix Fire Department firefighter uses a hose line to extinguish a Ford F150 pickup truck that caught fire during a record heat wave in Phoenix
A man walks at his family shipyard damaged from the fire in Mandra west of Athens
A Canadair CL-415 sprays water during a wildfire in the village of Pournari, near Athens
The heat waves across Europe and the globe are ‘not one single phenomenon but several acting at the same time’, said Robert Vautard, director of France’s Pierre-Simon Laplace climate institute.
‘But they are all strengthened by one factor: climate change.’
The record-setting heat came as US climate envoy John Kerry met with Chinese officials in Beijing, with the world’s two largest polluters reviving stalled diplomacy on reducing planet-warming emissions.
Speaking Tuesday at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, Kerry called for ‘global leadership’ on climate issues.
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