It was just before dinnertime on Day 16 of the worst heat wave in Phoenix history, and the temperature outside Karen Shute’s suburban home was 117 degrees.
Inside, Shute mixed two cocktails and sat down with her friend at the kitchen table. To save on her electric bill, Shute kept her thermostat around 80 degrees during the summer, but she decided she’d treat her friend that evening. She got up and turned it down to 77.
Nearly 200 million people in the United States, or 60% of the U.S. population, are under a heat advisory or flood warning or watch and have been since Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
July has been so hot thus far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat through.
The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July’s heat is beyond record-smashing.
An unrelenting heat wave that has blanketed the the Southwestern U.S. continued to break records Wednesday, inflicting misery in major cities and offering what experts described as a disturbing glimpse into the future as human-caused climate change increases the frequency and duration of extreme heat events.
The only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smoke from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly, forecasters say. And then the smoke will likely come back to the Midwest and East.
A new report shows what temperatures in the United States could look like in 30 years — and the outlook isn’t good.
The report, from the First Street Foundation, a climate-focused research organization, found that temperatures will likely rise everywhere due to climate change, though the way that is expected to play out varies in different parts of the U.S.
Looking to avoid power blackouts, California may turn to the one energy source it’s otherwise desperate to get rid of: fossil fuels.
A sweeping energy proposal Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday puts the state in the business of buying power to ensure there’s enough to go around during heat waves that strain the grid. But some critics say the method of getting there is at odds with the state’s broader climate goals, because it paves the way for the state to tap aging gas-fired power plants and add backup generators fueled by diesel.
For decades, scientists have warned that climate change would disrupt almost every natural life-sustaining system on our planet. What have we done about it? We’ve dithered. We refuse to believe the evidence, or rail against the cost and inconvenience of change, or hope the problem will just go away. But global warming is not going away. Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its most alarming report yet: Earth is on the edge of ecological bankruptcy.
California and several other Western states endured the hottest summer on record, according to federal data released Thursday, underscoring the ways rapid climate change is unleashing unprecedented wildfires, deadly heat waves and drought conditions. In addition to California, officials said Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah also set all-time heat records for the meteorological summer, spanning June through August.
The American West was once seen as a place of endless possibilities: grand vistas, bountiful resources and cities that somehow grew out of deserts. Now, manifest destiny has become a manifest emergency.
A scorching drought made worse by climate change is draining reservoirs at an alarming pace, fueling massive wildfires and deadly heat waves and withering one of the most important agricultural economies in the country.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
