It’s HOT
A punishing heat wave is currently sweeping across much of Europe, North America, and Asia, shattering records in cities throughout the Northern Hemisphere, less than two weeks after the global average temperature reached its highest level on record.
On Tuesday, Phoenix experienced an unprecedented 19th consecutive day of temperatures surpassing 110 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a 49-year-old record. On the same day, Beijing recorded 27 days of 95°F+ temperatures, also setting a new record for the city. The situation is no better in Italy, where almost all major cities are under red alert for extreme heat, with local media referring to this relentless heatwave as “settimana infernale” — or the “week of hell”.
Elsewhere, Iran witnessed temperatures soar to 152°F on Sunday, a figure that scientists say is on the verge of the limits of human survival, and China recorded its highest-ever temperature of 126°F.
Lots of hot air
Amidst this blazing heat, John Kerry, President Biden's special envoy for climate change, has jetted to Beijing to meet with China's premier to discuss cooperation on global warming. Both nations, as the world's largest carbon emitters, play a pivotal role in the energy transition that many see as necessary to prevent such records from being shattered year after year.
N.B. We've plotted the data from the Climate Change Institute from the University of Maine, providing a daily "unofficial" snapshot of temperatures as estimated from their Climate Forecast System. Other data sources, like the NOAA, are considered the gold standard in temperature data, but are not as timely. That said, data from EU institutions has found similarly anomalous results in recent days.
