The American West and much of the southern United States find themselves crushed this weekend by an “extremely dangerous” heat wave, according to the weather services, the mercury reaching up to 47 ° C in some cities .
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“An oppressive and extremely dangerous heat wave is expected to hit the west this weekend, as well as some places in the south,” the National Weather Service (NWS) warned in a bulletin on Saturday morning.
“Multiple temperature records are likely and air quality issues will be common in several regions of the United States,” further estimates the NWS.
And respite isn’t likely to come anytime soon for the more than 90 million Americans under a high-temperature alert, as the heat dome is set to ‘remain stationed above [de ces régions] for the next few days”, predicts the NWS.
In Phoenix, a metropolis of Arizona in the southwestern United States, 47°C are expected at the end of the afternoon for what must be the 16e day in a row of highs above 43°C.
Part of the state finds itself in the “magenta” alert level, a “rare and/or long-lasting extreme heat level” that represents the highest alert level in the NWS.
atypical wave
In southern California, firefighters have been fighting several very violent fires since Friday that have ravaged more than 1,214 hectares and led to the evacuation of the population.
For climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, the mercury in Death Valley could equal or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably measured on Earth, at 54.4°C. C registered in the same place in 2020 and 2021, according to several experts.
“This heat wave is NOT typical of desert heat due to its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures, and hot nights,” the Las Vegas branch of the NWS tweeted, continuing “Everyone needs to take this heat wave seriously, including those living in the desert.”
In Texas, the energy supplier Reliant Energy has asked residents of the large city of Houston to restrict their electricity consumption in order to moderate the pressure on the electricity grid.
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Other regions of the United States, for their part, are at risk of severe weather.
“Strong to violent thunderstorms, heavy rain and flooding are possible in many places, particularly and unfortunately in New England, already saturated” by recent rainfall, according to the NWS.
This region of the northeast of the country, and particularly the state of Vermont, was affected this week by “historic and catastrophic” floods, the result of torrential rains.
‘No respite’
In Canada, the number of fires continues to increase, especially in the west of the country, where in a few days several hundred fire starts have been recorded, mainly triggered by thunderstorms.
“We find ourselves this year with figures that are worse than our most pessimistic scenarios,” Yan Boulanger, a researcher for the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP.
“What is completely crazy is that there has been no respite since the beginning of May,” analyzes this forest fire specialist.
More than 10 million hectares have already gone up in smoke across the country – more than 11 times the one-year average of the past decade.
The absolute annual record – set at 7.3 million hectares in 1989 – has already been largely exceeded.
In total, the country has counted 4,088 fires since January, including many blazes reaching hundreds of thousands of hectares. More than 150,000 people also had to be displaced.
The impact is also being felt in neighbors to the south, as wildfire smoke has seen several northern US states, such as Montana and North Dakota, record “adverse” levels of air quality.
Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing the strength, duration and rate of repetition of heat waves, experts say.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency indicates in particular that “heat waves are occurring more frequently than before in major cities across the United States”.
“Their frequency has increased continuously, from an average of two heat waves per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s and 2020s,” she says.