The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) says July could be the hottest month on record in the country, with over 46°C in Phoenix, Arizona. This region is currently experiencing the longest heat wave on record, with mercury rising above 43°C for the 22nd consecutive day yesterday.
About 300 miles away in California, Death Valley and the world’s hottest temperatures attract tourists, who want to take pictures of themselves next to a screen that shows increasingly extreme temperatures. There are those who hope that the absolute record on Earth will be broken, recorded at 56.6°C in 1913, but disputed by some specialists.
The heat wave is expected to move toward the center of the country toward the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains of the Midwest through the remainder of July, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The month of July is on track to break the record for the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, not only for as long as records have been around, but for “hundreds, if not thousands, of years,” NASA’s chief climatologist, Gavin Schmidt, told reporters.
Gavin Schmidt says the situation is not just due to El Niño, the cyclical climate phenomenon that originates in the Pacific Ocean and leads to a rise in global temperatures, but because “we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”
Source: DN
