Curly roads. Broken bridges. Delayed trains. Treed electrical networks that have led to dangerous breakdowns. Case of heat disease and canceled sporting events. These are just some of the effects of this week’s oppressive heat wave, which brought The hottest day of more than a decade Tuesday.
As previous disasters have exposed the vulnerabilities of the United States to other types of extreme time, this week reveals strains in the country’s infrastructure and highlighting public health risks in the face of such record heat.
The heat wave occurs while the chances of extremely heat events develop strongly as the world warms up, as well as their severity and their duration. As global average temperatures are increasing, heat waves are the type of extreme meteorological event that scientists can very reliablely attach to climate change caused by pollution of fossil fuel.
And this week is not over yet: nearly 100 daily temperature records are threatened on Wednesday and heat indices climbed in the triple afternoon figures along large parts of the east coast. On Wednesday, around 125 million people are still under extreme heat warnings.
When this heat wave began to be built over the weekend, the roads were completed in southern Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa like the asphalt cooked in the warm sun. Monday, passengers had to be saved from an Amtrak Stuck in a Baltimore tunnel Without air conditioning. Widespread speed restrictions have been put in place along several AMTRAK paths due to the heat trend to deform railroad tracks, as well as the potential for electrical breakdowns. Many trains have been canceled due to the weather. More roads have cracked on the east coast while the heat persisted, including the highways in New Jersey.
In New York, metro platforms have been transformed into saunas while temperatures in certain areas have increased in record levels for June, accompanied by sensual humidity levels. In the Massachusetts, the heat made some Balançoire bridges Inoperable and a bridge in Chesapeake, Virginia, was stuck open due to a “Dysfunction linked to heatSaid the local fire service.
Heat waves are the deadliest form of extreme time in the United States, according to the National Weather Service, and although the whole extent of any death or impact on the health of this heat can take weeks or more to become known, there have been important cases of heat-related diseases.
At least one death is blamed for heat in the region of St. Louis, where a woman would live without water or air conditioning for three days, the police said.
Sixteen people were sent to the hospital and more than 150 were evaluated for heat -related diseases during two high school graduates in Paterson, New Jersey.
In Washington, DC, a K-POP concert ended early due to a Flow of Health Incidents related to heat Monday evening. And the Washington monument remains closed Wednesday due to hot weather.
Several hospitals, including in new York And ChicagoHas struggled to maintain their power and air conditioning systems, leading to stifling conditions. In New York, the public service company Con Edison urged residents to maintain the power to avoid rolling breakdowns.
Young hikers had to be rescued in New Hampshire due to injuries related to heat, and Norfolk, Massachusetts, at least two firefighters were hospitalized due to exhaustion While fighting the flames in hot record conditions.
And the temperatures were so hot in Charlotte, in North Carolina FIFA Club World Cup The matches on Tuesday watched their teams play from inside the locker room while he was on the substitute bench, the German professional football team from Bayern Munich said in a post on x.
The heat culminated Tuesday in many places, with monthly reversed records from Maine in the Middle Atlantic. In Augusta, in MaineTuesday’s high temperature reached 100 degrees, its warmest ever recorded for June and equalize the high temperature temperature record in the state capital.
Boston reached 102 degrees, establishing a new June record at high temperature. Tuesday is now equal for the third most recorded day for the city – every other days which have been so hot or warmer have all occurred in July or August.
Philadelphia also marked its first temperature reading at 100 degrees since 2012, reaching 101 degrees on Tuesday and establishing the hottest day in the city at the start of the summer. The city broke the daily record for the daily temperature on Monday when it reached 99 degrees.
The files also fell to Providence, Rhode Island, where temperatures reached 100 degrees – a new summit for the June summit. Meanwhile, Newark, New Jersey, reached 103 degrees, equaling the June record at high temperature.
In some New York parts, temperatures have climbed over the three-digit brand. John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens reached 102 degrees on Tuesday afternoon – the first time since 2011 and the first time in June – and Wednesday afternoon. Laguardia airport, also in Queens, experienced a high temperature of 101 degrees, equaling its record for the month of June.
Temperatures in most of these places climbed in the middle and mid-90s on Wednesday afternoon.
Studies have shown that heat extremes have clear links with global warming, as their probability and severity also increase significantly as the overall average temperature increases.
An analysis of the research on the non -profit climate Climate Central found climate change made the extreme heat of Tuesday in the middle of the Atlantic at least five times more likely Perform in relation to a world modeled without emissions of fossil fuels.
“There is no uncertainty around the fact that climate change makes heat waves more intense and more frequent,” said the air conditioning Fredi Otto, which leads an international group, the global weather attribution, which examines extreme weather events and their potential links on climate change.
“We have always had a dangerous heat, but in our warming world, this heat grows at new levels and extremes,” said Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist Central.
While scientists continue to examine the links between extreme weather conditions and climate change, the link becomes clearer.
“Almost all of the extreme heat events that have been analyzed show an influence of climate change-which means that climate change has pushed heat to new extremes, and often for longer periods,” she told CNN.