Heat kills hundreds, millions more sweltering worldwide

LONDON — Deadly heat waves are scorching cities on four continents as the Northern Hemisphere marks the first day of summer, a sign that climate change may again help fuel record-breaking heat that could surpass last summer as the warmest in 2,000 years.

Record temperatures in recent days are suspected to have caused hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths across Asia and Europe.

In Saudi Arabia, nearly 2 million Muslim pilgrims are finishing the Hajj at the Grand Mosque in Mecca this week. But more than 1,000 have died during the journey amid temperatures above 51 C, according to an AFP tally on Thursday.

Countries around the Mediterranean have also endured another week of blistering high temperatures that have contributed to forest fires from Portugal to Greece and along the northern coast of Africa in Algeria, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Serbia, meteorologists forecast temperatures of around 40 C this week as winds from North Africa propelled a hot front across the Balkans. Health authorities declared a red weather alert and advised people not to venture outdoors.

This year, Europe has been contending with a spate of dead and missing tourists amid dangerous heat. A 55-year-old US citizen was found dead on the Greek island of Mathraki, police said on Monday, the third such tourist death in a week.

A broad swath of the eastern United States was also wilting for a fourth consecutive day under a heat dome, a phenomenon that occurs when a strong, high-pressure system traps hot air over a region, preventing cool air from getting in and causing ground temperatures to remain high.

New York City opened emergency cooling centers in libraries, senior centers and other facilities. While the city's schools were operating normally, a number of districts in the surrounding suburbs sent students home early to avoid the heat.

Meteorological authorities also issued an excessive heat warning for parts of the US state of Arizona, including Phoenix, on Thursday, with temperatures expected to reach 45.5 C.

In the nearby state of New Mexico, a pair of fast-moving wildfires abetted by the blistering heat have killed two people and destroyed 500 homes, according to authorities. Heavy rains could help temper the blazes, but thunderstorms on Thursday were also causing flash flooding and complicating firefighting efforts.

Brutal temperatures

Nearly 100 million people in the US were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings on Thursday, according to the federal government's National Integrated Heat Health Information System.

The brutal temperatures should begin easing in New England on Friday, the weather service said, but New York and the mid-Atlantic states will continue to endure near-record heat into the weekend.

In Asia, India's summer period lasts from March to May, when monsoons begin slowly sweeping across the country and breaking the heat.

But New Delhi registered its warmest night on Wednesday in at least 55 years, with India's Safdarjung Observatory reporting a temperature of 35.2 C at 1 am.

Last year had already been confirmed as the world's warmest on record by a large margin, at least since 1850, due to climate change.

According to research published in Nature, the summer temperature of 2023 has been at the top of the list for 2,000 years.

Researchers have reviewed meteorological records since the mid-19th century and analyzed tree rings at nine different locations in the Northern Hemisphere to obtain earlier temperature data, leading to the above conclusion.

The World Meteorological Organization said there is an 86 percent chance that one of the next five years will eclipse 2023 to become the warmest on record.

Scientists say heat waves will continue to intensify if the world continues to unleash emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

Agencies Via Xinhua