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A12 SCIENCE
Saturday 25 June 2022

Summer swelter: Persistent heat wave

breaks records, spirits

grees Celsius) to 105 (40.6
degrees Celsius) in just nine
hours Wednesday. Then on
Thursday the temperature
peaked at 104 (40 degrees
Celsius), a record for the
day. Even Minneapolis hit
100 on Monday.
Probably only the Pacific
Northwest and Northeast
have been spared the
heat wave, said National
Weather Service meteorol-
ogist Marc Chenard at the
Weather Prediction Cen-
ter. On Thursday, Texas,
Mitchell Clearman takes a photo of the sign at El Arroyo Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala-
restaurant in Austin, Texas, on a hot afternoon, Thursday, June
23, 2022. bama, Georgia, Florida,
Associated Press Arizona, South Carolina,
By SETH BORENSTEIN marks of climate change. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kan-
sas, South Dakota, Colora-
From the normally chilly In China’s northern Henan
Russian Arctic to the tradi- province Friday, Xuchang do, Nevada and California
all hit at least 100. Houston,
tionally sweltering Ameri- hit 107.8 degrees (42.1 de-
can South, big swaths of grees Celsius) and Deng- Dallas, Austin, New Orleans
and Orlando all tied high
the Northern Hemisphere feng hit 106.9 degrees
continued to sizzle with ex- (41.6 degrees Celsius) for record marks on Thursday.
“It’s persistent,” Chenard
treme heat as the start of their hottest days on re-
summer more resembled cord, according to global said. “It’s been over a
week and it’s going to
the dog days of August extreme weather tracker
with parts of China and Maximiliano Herrera. And continue in some aspects.”
It’s not just the U.S.
Japan setting all-time heat in Japan Friday, Tokama-
records Friday. chi and Tsunan set all-time The Russian city of Norilsk,
above the Arctic circle, hit
In the United States a heat heat records while several
dome of triple digit tem- cities broke monthly marks, 89.6 degrees (32 degrees
Celsius) Thursday for its hot-
peratures in many places he said
combined with high hu- “It’s easy to look at these test June day on record
and tied for its hottest day
midity oscillated from west figures and forget the im-
to east. On Thursday, at mense misery they repre- in any month on record,
Herrera.
according
to
least 15 states hit 100 de- sent. People who can’t af-
grees (37.8 degrees Cel- ford air conditioning and Saragt in Turkmenistan rose
to 114.6 degrees (45.9 de-
sius) and at least 21 high people who work outdoors
temperature marks were have only one option, to grees Celsius) but Herrera
said in the next days it can
set or broken, according suffer,” said Texas A&M
to the National Weather climate scientist Andrew get even worse.
Herrera said tracking heat
Service, which held 30 mil- Dessler, who was in College
lion Americans under some Station, where the temper- records is so overwhelming
that he doesn’t have time
kind of heat advisory. ature tied a record at 102
The extreme discomfort degrees (38.9 degrees Cel- to eat or sleep.
A European heat wave has
of Thursday came after 12 sius) Thursday. “Those of us
states broke the 100-de- with air conditioning may also caused problems
with fires in Germany and
gree mark on Wednesday not physically suffer, but
and 21 records were tied we are prisoners of the in- Spain. Northern Illinois Uni-
versity meteorology pro-
or broken. Since June 15, doors.”
at least 113 automated After three deaths, Chica- fessor Victor Gensini said
what’s happening with this
weather stations have tied go has changed its cooling
or broken hot-temperature rules. In Macon, Georgia, early heat wave is “very
consistent with what we’d
records. Scientists say this the temperature swept
early baking has all the hall- from 64 degrees (17.8 de- expect in a continually
warming world.”
“These temperatures are
occurring with only 2 de-
grees Fahrenheit (1.1 de-
grees Celsius) of global
warming and we are on
track for 4 degrees Fahren-
heit (2.2 degrees Celsius)
more warming over this
century,” Dessler said. “I lit-
erally cannot imagine how
bad that will be.”q