Millions of Americans are set to experience possible record-breaking temperatures as a heat wave moves through the Southwest part of the U.S. this week.
Nearly 33 million people in the U.S. are under extreme heat alerts Thursday, according to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System. The scorching temperatures are affecting Arizona, southern Nevada and parts of California before the system is projected to move north to Oregon and Washington on Friday and Saturday.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday that Phoenix could break its record high of 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, with the city forecast to experience a high of 45 degrees (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Las Vegas reached 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) Wednesday and is projected to experience a temperature increase of a few degrees Thursday.
California’s Central Valley and southwest U.S. deserts are under “particular concern” because of their urban areas and lower elevations, the NWS said Thursday. Those without functional cooling and hydration systems are especially affected due to a lack of overnight relief from the hot weather, the NWS said.
Parts of Florida are also projected to experience record-breaking temperatures Friday and Saturday as a heat wave on its peninsula moves south.
The National Weather Service cautions people living under an excessive heat warning to limit their exposure to the sun, stay hydrated, and wear sunscreen and lightweight and light-colored clothes.
Heat-related deaths reached an all-time high in 2023, with scorching heat contributing to about 2,300 deaths in the U.S., reports the Associated Press.
The heat wave in the U.S. comes as the European Union said Wednesday that May was the hottest month ever. May marked 12 straight months of record-breaking temperatures globally, according to Copernicus, the EU’s climate agency.
“It is shocking but not surprising that we have reached this 12-month streak. While this sequence of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the overall signature of climate change remains and there is no sign in sight of a change in such a trend,” said Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
FILE - A group of tourists hide from the strong midday sun under the shadow of a tree, as they listen to their guide during the first heat alert of the year, on a hot spring day, in a street in Ronda, Spain, May 30, 2024.
The finding is part of a coordinated effort with the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization that called for urgent action on climate change due to a likely increase in the global temperature.
The WMO report said there’s a nearly 50 percent likelihood that the global temperature average between 2024 and 2028 will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — an increase from its 32 percent projection for 2023 to 2027.
If that threshold is surpassed, climate scientists say life won’t end, but coral reefs will continue to be depleted and deadly weather events will become more common.
“The Paris threshold is not a magic number,” said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. “Reaching that level of warming over a multiyear average will not cause a noticeable uptick in the impacts we're already witnessing.”
Climate scientists say the burning of fossil fuels — the main contributor to global warming — must be phased out to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
"Until greenhouse gas concentrations level off, we will keep breaking temperature records, along with increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events," Francis said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.