The large western state of the United States is preparing for a severe heat wave in the coming days, a consequence of global warming.
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Red alert. Southern California (western United States) is, Thursday, June 9, on alert before the arrival of a heat wave which risks raising temperatures to potentially fatal levels in certain areas, with peaks expected above 47°C. On Friday and Saturday, temperatures are expected to be 5°C to 8°C higher than seasonal averages.
It is in the interior of the lands and the desert zones that this heat wave will be felt the most, Friday and Saturday, according to the meteorologists who have issued warnings against this “excessive heat” and its consequences in many areas. The mercury could thus reach 45 ° C in the tourist town of Palm Springs and exceed 46.5 ° C not far from there, in Borrego Springs. “We’ve had heat waves before this year, but not as intense or as long as this one”notes Alex Tardy, of the weather services of San Diego.
It was already in June last year that a “heat dome” of extremely rare intensity had sown chaos on the entire west coast of the United States and Canada. Coupled with a chronic drought, these temperature records had caused many fires. The small village of Lytton, 250 km northeast of Vancouver, broke the historic heat record in Canada, with 49.6 ° C, before being 90% destroyed by flames a few days later.
These heat waves are one of the most obvious consequences of global warming. Due to greenhouse gases generated by human activities, mainly fossil fuels, the planet has already warmed around 1.1°C since the pre-industrial era. In California, average temperatures during the summer are now 1.6°C above their level at the end of the 19th century.