Canada links June heat wave to climate; deadly heat wave hits western US. July 11, 2024

Heat map

By AFP -Agence France Presse

Canada links June heat wave to climate; deadly heat wave hits western US.

Environment Canada said on Tuesday that climate change made the recent heatwave on the East Coast two to ten times more likely, in its first study to quickly attribute extreme weather events to human activity.

In mid-June, the Atlantic provinces recorded temperatures between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius (13 and 18 degrees Fahrenheit) above seasonal averages, the ministry said.

Its so-called "rapid attribution system for extreme weather events" aims to quickly analyze the role of human activity in recent conditions by comparing current data with pre-industrial data.

The June temperature records, which date back to the 1870s when the data was first recorded, were broken in the province of New Brunswick, with the port city of Saint John reaching 34.5C (94.1F).

The provinces of Quebec and Ontario were also affected by the extreme weather.

The study found exceptionally high daytime temperatures, high humidity, and warmer-than-normal nighttime temperatures, leaving little or no respite.

"The event was much more likely due to human influence on the climate," said the agency. It was "rare to have such conditions so early in June".

The rapid attribution system is currently in the testing phase, but will eventually be extended to other extreme weather events, such as severe cold and flooding, according to the Environment Ministry.

In particular, it will analyze the heatwave currently affecting western Canada, where more than 50 daily records have been broken in British Columbia and Alberta in recent days.

With heatwaves from Mexico to China and Saudi Arabia, June 2024 is the 13th consecutive month to set a record for the highest average temperature for that month, the EU's Copernicus climate monitor reported on Monday.

It also became the hottest June ever measured, obliterating the record already broken in 2023.

Record-breaking, deadly heatwave hits western US.

Los Angeles, United States (AFP) July 10, 2024 - A record-breaking heatwave continued to batter the western United States on Tuesday, breaking records and putting lives at risk, with no relief in sight.

Approximately 162 million people - nearly half of the US population - were living in areas under active heat alerts, according to the National Weather Service.

In a post on X, the "dangerous heat" was expected to remain in the western part of the country for the rest of the week before moving east over the weekend, warning that "persistent, record-breaking heat is extremely dangerous for those without access to cooling."

Among the places that saw records broken was Las Vegas, Nevada, which recorded its highest temperature ever, 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) on Sunday.

In Texas, the White House declared a federal emergency after storm Beryl left around 2 million people without power until Tuesday night.

"The biggest concern right now is the power outages and extreme heat that is affecting Texans," President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the southeastern United States and the East Coast also recorded sweltering temperatures, with heat advisories and excessive heat warnings in effect from Florida to Massachusetts.

The heat has been directly attributed to several deaths along the US West Coast.

In Death Valley, California, on Saturday, one motorcyclist died from suspected heat exposure and another was hospitalized, according to National Park Service officials.

The area, known as one of the hottest places on Earth, recorded a temperature of 53ºC.

Further north, four men in the Portland, Oregon area have died since Friday from heat-related illnesses, according to the local newspaper The Oregonian.

- Records broken -

Although the Pacific Northwest is known for being generally more temperate than the deserts of the US Southwest, temperatures remained high on Tuesday after Salem, Oregon's capital, hit a daily record of 103 degrees (39.3 Celsius) over the weekend.

"This is a record heat wave," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, during an online press conference over the weekend.

Some people in California, he said, saw "not only the hottest day they've ever experienced but also the hottest day their parents or grandparents would ever have experienced".

The high temperatures also contributed to the extreme fire conditions in California, where thousands of hectares were burned in active wildfires across the state.

Northwest of Santa Barbara, the Lake Fire burned about 110 square kilometers, prompting evacuations and road closures on Tuesday.

The heatwave comes after the hottest June ever recorded on Earth, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

According to scientists, recurring heatwaves are an indicator of climate change caused by humanity's use of fossil fuels.

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