This summer is not like previous ones. It started with the warmest June on the planet since there are records, 174 years ago, but then it has gone further. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the first 15 days of July have probably been the 15 warmest days on Earth since at least 1979 (mean daily surface air temperature).
In the last week, this has coincided with several simultaneous heat waves in the northern hemisphere that have broken records in many different parts of the planet. On July 16, the Sanbao weather station, in the Chinese town of Turpan, measured 52.2°, the highest temperature ever recorded in this Asian country. At the same time, in the United States, temperatures reached 53.3 in Death Valley National Park (California) and have broken the record for days above 43° in Phoenix (Arizona). The extreme heat also hit Europe, where temperatures reached 46.3° in Licata (Italy) or 45.4° in Figueres (Spain). This latest heat wave ended in Spain with 40 new records and the surprising mark of the Catalan town, which becomes the northernmost point of the Peninsula that exceeds 45 °.
This exceptional heat that also affects the seas, with an extreme warming of the North Atlantic, occurs at the beginning of the appearance of the phenomenon of The boy, which forecasters hope will further complicate the situation. “In addition to climate change caused by human activities, it will raise global temperatures to unknown limits,” the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas, warned in May. Climatologists have been insisting all summer: the weather is pushing the planet into uncharted territory.
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that for every 0.5° increase in the planet’s average temperature, there will be clearly discernible increases in the intensity and frequency of hot extremes, including heat waves. The Secretary General of the WMO has warned that “we have to redouble our efforts to help society adapt to what, unfortunately, is becoming the new normal”.
Greece: fire and cancellations
In Athens, the normality these days is that small businesses close or change their hours to open later. This week, people were only seen on the streets in tourist areas. In the Acropolis they distribute free bottles of water to tourists to avoid heat stroke, except on the hottest days when the archaeological sites close. Although 2023 is not meeting the expectations of tourism —hoteliers, who predicted a record season, assure that there is a wave of cancellations—, millions of tourists deal with the heat however they can.
The Emergency Meteorological Bulletin, prepared by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, warns of the succession of heat waves from mid-July to at least August. In central Greece they exceed 44°, in the capital there are 42°. It would not be extreme temperatures at this time if they were peaks; what was unusual, until recently, are so many days in a row with so much heat.
The most popular drink in Greece is freddo espresso, a strong coffee, shaken to make it frothy, to which copious amounts of ice are added. Tourists confuse it with the frappe, another modality that was popular decades ago. Although it is drunk all year round, also in winter, at this time the consumption of Freddo it extends through all social classes and all places, from beaches to offices, going through police stations, kiosks or, of course, cafeterias.
Unfortunately, it is common for violent forest fires to accompany dog days. On July 18, the fire began to destroy forest areas of Attica that survived those of previous years. The following days started more fires. On the night of July 19-20, the closest fire illuminated the capital with reddish light from the Parnes, one of the three mountain ranges that surround Athens.
![A tourist affected by the heat in the Acropolis of Athens, on July 14.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/dy9pDb3Z3NPASSQU3_ZTbH_QtKc=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/6XHXL75ICO6RXRU73OAMSIGPNU.jpg)
Italy: emergency phone number
The maximum heat peak in Italy occurred on Wednesday, when up to 45° was reached in different parts of the country. Rome reached record temperatures, which touched 42°, and up to 23 cities had to issue a red alert. Temperatures began to drop on Thursday from the north of the country, but in the south they continue to punish the population and tourists who crowd the country at this time of year.
The center of Rome, precisely, was much emptier than usual on these dates on Friday. Despite the fact that tourism is up around 10% compared to last year, the heat has forced many visitors to stay sheltered in hotels until late. “It is true that this week has been noticed. And it’s normal, it’s even dangerous to go out at this time,” explained one of the cashiers at the Coliseum on Friday at lunchtime.
The Italian Ministry of Health launched an emergency telephone number, active since Wednesday to signal alarms. Several people, however, have already been victims of heat stroke. The last one, a 63-year-old baker in Padua who died from complications caused by the rise in temperature. Animals are also kept under observation in zoos and Rome’s Bioparco has distributed ice cream and frozen fruit to help them also mitigate the high temperatures.
![One of the streets of Turin on July 9.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/bAGw0ozoL30wPy7BRK1sm1v_rPM=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/MKGPFEY4UNF2RF2YU2CZ634WUM.jpg)
USA: more than 860 records
More than 90 million people lived this Friday in the United States in danger of extreme heat, in areas with temperatures between 103 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit (39.5 ° and 51.6 °). They make up just under a third of the country’s population, spread over a vast region painted dark red in the south, from Florida to Texas, and from Oklahoma to Georgia.
The epicenter (and the power of the symbol) has settled on Phoenix (Arizona) where they are breaking their own historical record: more than 20 consecutive days above 43.3 °. In El Paso (Texas) they have spent 35 days with highs that exceed 37° and these days they have reached 44°. In Las Vegas this week they have touched the hell of 45º in the middle of the Nevada desert, while in the Death Valley park (the Valley of Death), in California, a state in which unprecedented temperatures are being recorded in the usually cooler northern region, the mercury has marked up to 53º in the shade (62º in the sun, almost a world record).
Authorities send out extreme heat alerts every morning and recall that between 2018 and 2020, more than 3,000 people died from heat-related causes, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the week in which Death Valley’s third death from heat has been recorded, forecasts predict that that count will worsen this summer.
More than 860 heat marks have been sprayed at weather stations in the United States in recent days, according to the national weather agency. (NOAA is its acronym in English).
![A warning sign for extreme heat in Death Valley, California.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/hr5q62UhUJaYpYGbmJD9FGX1Nb8=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/GUVKPXQ6KEJFAFWFEWOYBQN4MY.jpg)
China: highest temperature on record
In many parts of China the sun also hits hard and life has become almost impossible outside. Heat waves have swept through the Asian giant since June, and various regions have experienced the hottest cycles in decades, which have come earlier and have been more scattered and extreme than in previous years, according to meteorologists quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.
A few days ago, in Turpan, China’s biggest depression, a pan located in the desert region of Xinjiang, the heat was already sweltering with close to 40° at noon. Tourists at the Jiaohe ruins draped umbrellas and trudged past the ancient dry-earth houses carved into the rock of this oasis. If one survived the visit, it was thanks to the merchants who offer pieces of watermelon and melon in the shade. A few days later, last Sunday, the highest temperature ever recorded in China was reached in Sanbao, a town in Turpan: 52.2°. In the so-called flaming mountains, a beautiful chain of promontories that look like flames, the surface of the earth reached 80°.
On Wednesday, the capital, Beijing, exceeded 35th for the twenty-eighth time so far this year, the highest number of days since there are records. Many choose to cover themselves with light technical clothing that protects them from radiation. “Normally by now I would have changed the displays, but this year it’s so hot that I haven’t done it yet because there are still customers,” says a vendor of these garments at her stall located in the Yiwu International Market, the world’s largest center for wholesale products. At the counter, she packs masks and explains the peculiarities of an increasingly popular genre in China.
![An urban worker in Beijing, on July 10.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/uYSNXoGcD9_RQ5Sb9uKhKVBKeII=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/BJJK47PW3OYDEX34CDNI4FOH7M.jpg)
Japan: alerts and hospitalizations
More than 3,900 Japanese were hospitalized between July 3 and 9, according to what the Japanese authorities have reported. This week, Japan has issued alerts for temperatures above 35° in 32 of the country’s 47 prefectures; Tokyo’s thermometers were already above 30° at six o’clock on Tuesday morning.
Countries across Asia have been hit by several bouts of unprecedented heat, fueling concerns about whether these nations will have the ability to adapt to extreme weather events that experts predict will become more frequent.
In a recent report On the situation in the region, the World Weather Attribution, a coalition of scientists that studies the impact of climate change, warns that heat waves in humid areas are much more dangerous to health and that they will occur 10 times more frequently in the near future. According to UN projections, in Thailand, there could be 30 more deaths per million people due to heat in the next two decades, and 130 more per million by the end of the century.
A study from the University of Cambridge warns that, by 2050, heat waves in India, the most populous country on the planet, could “cross the limit of human survival” and “will affect the productivity and quality of life of between 310 and 480 million people”, an “unprecedented challenge” that could hinder plans to achieve national development goals.
![Several people wait for the green of the shadow traffic light on July 12 in Tokyo.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/7ReMC_jMtf69A82vrT5I_kE65AU=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KJ47NCEQOOTEH75TWPKEUMBC3Y.jpg)
They have participated in this report: Clemente Alvarez and Laura Navarro (Madrid), Hibai Arbide Aza (Athens), Daniel Verdu (Rome), iker six fingers (Miami), William April and Inma Bonet (Beijing)
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