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Heat extremes on Earth have reached a disturbing new level in recent years. The July 2020 temperatures soared across Siberia and reached a record-breaking 38°C inside the Arctic Circle, continuing a line of record heat events globally. “Event attribution” calculations, which are an endeavor to apportion blame for extreme events through quantitative modeling, suggest that some events would have been nearly impossible without human-induced global warming. This includes the recent Siberian summer and the 2018 heat wave in Japan, which killed more than a thousand people (1, 2). Rising heat is creating new challenges for humanity that will require new adaptation and protection measures.
One of the most intense heat waves in over 200 years is unfolding across Europe with temperatures rivaling those in Death Valley -- one of the hottest places on Earth.
AccuWeather meteorologists are warning of one of the most significant heat waves in western Europe in over 200 years, or a few decades before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The long-duration, extreme weather event could turn deadly across the continent.
The heat has already been baking Portugal and Spain with temperatures frequently topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) since Friday, July 8. Sevilla, Spain, has been one of the hottest spots with the mercury soaring at or above 105 F (41 C) for nine consecutive days.
The temperature of 116.6 F (47 C) recorded in Pinhăo, Portugal, on Thursday, July 14, if confirmed, could become the highest temperature ever recorded in the country in July. The country's current July record stands at 115.7 F (46.5 C) which was set in Amareleja in 1995.
On Saturday, the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported that there were more than 360 deaths attributed to the heat wave in the country so far this week. Of those, the community of Madrid reported 22 deaths, while one 60-year-old municipal cleaning worker died Saturday during work.
The AccuWeather Local Max™ temp is 120 F (49 C) in Spain and Portugal. For comparison, temperatures typically top out near 118 F (48 C) in Death Valley in July.
Looks like we are gonna see heated surface unbearable for human occupation in near future
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