The Deadly Summer of 2023: Why long heatwaves are here to stay

It’s been a long and cruel summer. Temperatures are soaring across the world. From the United States to Europe and from Asia to Africa, deadly heatwaves are affecting daily life with no sign of relief. The unprecedented hot weather is breaking records. Last week saw the hottest ever days on the planet. The average world temperature hit 16.89 degrees Celsius on 3 July and reached 17 degrees Celsius on 4 July for the first time; the average global temperature was 17.04 degrees Celsius. According to the provisional figure, 5 July surpassed that when temperatures touched 17.05. It continues to be hot with alerts sounded in several countries worldwide. But why is it so very hot? And what can we expect in the days to come? We take a look. Which places are worst-hit by the heatwave? A historic heatwave has battered the United States. The southern United States is reeling under an extreme heatwave for its third week with 100 million Americans under heat alerts from south Florida to northern Nevada. Near-record temperatures have been reported in Reno, Nevada; Las Vegas; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Salt Lake City. Death Valley, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada, has long been the hottest place on Earth. On Sunday, the temperature reached 53.3 degrees Celsius at Furnace Creek. El Paso in Texas has been witnessing its longest streak. Temperatures have soared about 37 degrees Celsius for 27 straight days, shattering a record last set in 1994, reports the BBC. The extreme heat is causing wildfires in the US and Canada. [caption id=“attachment_12880942” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] City kids attempt to cool off in a water fountain in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. Heat records are being shattered all over the US South, from California to Florida. AP[/caption] The dangerous heatwave is expected to continue in the southwest US until next week, at least until 28 July, according to the National Weather Service. Excruciating heat conditions are also prevailing in large parts of southern Europe. In several places, temperatures were nearing 40 degrees Celsius in what was called the Cerberus heatwave. On Saturday, temperatures were touching 41C in Greece, 44C in Turkey and 39C in southern Germany, reports The Guardian. Greece was forced to close the ancient Acropolis site to tourists because of the heat. Two separate wildfires are tearing through the country – in the coastal town of Loutraki and in Kouvaras. Italy put 15 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence on red alert. The mercury is expected to reach 43C on Tuesday, smashing the record 40.5C set in August 2007. Sicily and Sardinia could see temperatures climb as high as 49 degrees Celsius. In southern Spain, temperatures hit 45C on Monday. Provisional temperatures touched 44.8C in Andujar and 44.7C in nearby Jaen, both in Spain’s southern Andalusia region. There is no relief even at night or early morning. In Alicante on the south coast of Spain, the temperature at midnight was 30C. The European Space Agency has warned that Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Poland are facing extreme conditions, reports RTE. The WMO has said that the heatwave is likely to continue in August. [caption id=“attachment_12880972” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Recording breaking temperatures are reported in the US. Graphic: News18[/caption] The conditions are unbearable in Asia as well with China and Japan battling the heat. Breaking the previous record of 50.3C, China recorded its highest-ever temperature on Sunday amid killer heatwaves. The remote Sanbao township in the Turpan depression of Xinjiang witnessed temperatures touch 52.2C. Beijing recorded its hottest June day in more than 60 years, with the mercury touching 41.1C, reports BBC. In Japan, several places including Tokyo witnessed temperatures touching 40C with authorities issuing warnings. At least 60 people were treated for heatstroke. Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea temporarily halted activities because of the heat. Also read: Cerberus, Charon, Xenia: Why are some heatwaves now being named? Why it is so abnormally hot? The heat dome over the southern US is just one of the several across the Nothern Hemisphere, bringing scorching temperatures to Europe and Asia. The frequency, intensity and longevity of extreme heat events are on the rise because of climate change. In Europe, the temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees Celsius higher than usual. Heatwaves last longer as the established high-pressure systems across the region are resulting in temperature rise every day. The seas are hotting up causing a feedback loop and prolonging the heatwave on land, reports The Guardian. [caption id=“attachment_12881002” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Tourists sip cold water as they shelter from a hot sunny afternoon near Rome’s Colosseum. Italy is facing extreme heat conditions. File photo/AP[/caption] While we think of air temperatures, the heat stored near the surface of the Earth is in the oceans. The change is the sea surface temperatures have been extreme with the North Atlantic experiencing the highest surface temperature ever recorded, according to the BBC. This comes at a time of El Nino, a recurring weather pattern when warm waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With heatwaves in the Atlantic and the Pacific, the global sea temperatures in April and May were the highest ever on record. “If the seas are warmer than usual, you can expect higher air temperatures too,” Tim Lenton, professor of climate change at the UK’s Exeter University, told BBC. According to him, the extra heat trapped by the build-up of greenhouse gases warms the surface of the ocean. The heat gets mixed downwards towards the deeper ocean but movements in the ocean currents like El Nino can bring it back to the surface. [caption id=“attachment_12881022” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A man cools himself with a fan while browsing his phone on a sweltering day in Beijing. AP[/caption] Climate change fuelled by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas has resulted in the world becoming hotter every year. The record warming that Earth is experiencing is because of human-caused climate change, according to scientists such as Russ Vose, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate analysis chief, reports The Guardian. El Nino has started only a few months ago and it will peak by winter. This means that next year will be hotter than this year. Meanwhile, scientists predict 2023 to be the hottest year on record. With higher global temperatures comes the high risk of heatwaves. Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the Grantham Institute of Climate Change at Imperial College London, told BBC, “These heatwaves are not only more frequent but also hotter and longer than they would have been without global warming.” The heat conditions might seem abnormal. But they are the new normal. With inputs from agencies