A firefighter’s plane drops water during a forest fire in Portugal on Saturday.
Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP via Getty Images
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Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP via Getty Images
A firefighter’s plane drops water during a forest fire in Portugal on Saturday.
Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP via Getty Images
Across the United States, millions of Americans are getting ready for the warmest days they’ve ever seen.
Parts of the Great Plains are forecast to hit record temperatures this week, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather. Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas can reach temperatures as high as 110 degrees.
The heat has affected crops, livestock and the region’s power grid. Parts of Texas and Oklahoma were under extreme heat warnings on Sunday, while Arkansas and Louisiana were under heat warnings.
Texas residents, mired in a heatwave for the past several weeks, have seen triple-digit heat from north to south and east to west. The city of Austin just experienced its hottest seven-day period on record. As residents there and across the state move up air conditionerConcerns about the resilience of the state’s power grid are growing.
Wildfires across Europe
But it doesn’t just happen here. Scientists have found that climate change is making heat waves around the world more frequent and intense.
Severe heat in parts of Europe has caused wildfires to burn across Spain, France, Portugal and other surrounding countries, forcing thousands to evacuate.
A pilot died after his plane crashed in a Portuguese Friday fire fighting.
Portugal experienced some of the heaviest losses. According to Portuguese broadcaster RTP, wildfires have destroyed about 74,000 acres of land so far this year.
In France, two major wildfires in the southwest of the country have been spreading for nearly a week now and ravaging the country’s pine forests, according to reports. Related press. Wildfires have displaced about 14,000 people from the area.
Wildfires are also taking a toll on parts of Spain, prompting the country’s Ministry of Defense to deploy most of its firefighting planes to areas with limited access on the ground, AP news agency also reported.
Brilliant temperature
The heat wave in Portugal left 659 people dead in the past week, according to Reuters, citing the National Health Ministry. Temperatures hit 117 degrees in some parts of the country.
As of Saturday, about 360 people in Spain have died from heat-related causes, according to Spain’s daily news agency. La Vanguardia.
Meanwhile, for the first time in history, parts of the UK are on a “Red Warning” for extreme heat.
The UK’s national weather agency, known as the Met Office, says temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
According to the Met Office, extreme heat warnings will affect parts of the UK on Monday and Tuesday.
Despite the widespread harms people are feeling from climate change, countries around the world risk stalling their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions as they scramble to cope. deal with problems such as high inflation and fossil fuel prices.
The United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. But its ability to reduce heat-trapping pollution has recently been limited by political conservatives. In late June, the Supreme Court restricted the ability of the US Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions from existing power plants. And last week, Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., shot down legislation supported by other Democrats and the White House in Biden to pump more money into clean energy.
