A new US summer forecast is warning of a severe heatwave, with millions of Americans facing the threat of record-breaking temperatures. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), most of New Mexico and Utah, as well as parts of Arizona, Texas, and Colorado, have a 60% to 70% chance of experiencing hotter-than-average summer temperatures. The entire northeast, from Maine to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, along with a large stretch from Louisiana to Arizona, Washington, and Idaho, have a 40% to 50% chance of above-average temperatures.
The heatwave is being driven by a heat dome, a powerful area of high pressure hovering over Mexico for weeks, causing record-breaking temperatures across the country. This dome is expected to exacerbate global heating and generate hotter-than-average summer temperatures for most of the US.
Experts are warning that the summer of 2024 could prove to be particularly dangerous for outdoor workers, with older adults, children, pregnant people, and those with substance-use issues being among the most vulnerable to extreme heat. The Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists has predicted another dangerous hot summer season, with daily records already being broken in parts of Texas and Florida.
Phoenix, Arizona, the US’s hottest city, is bracing itself for another scorching year. Last year, the city suffered a month of consecutive days over 110F (43C) and a record 645 heat deaths, a 700% rise over the past decade. In response, Phoenix is extending opening hours for some larger cooling centers and expanding its tree-planting program to improve shade in marginalized neighborhoods.
Rising Costs of Homeowner’s Insurance Spread Across the USThe US’s heatwave is just one part of a global trend, with temperature records being smashed year after year due to greenhouse gas emissions released by burning fossil fuels. A report by Public Citizen has found that as many as 2,000 workers die of heatstroke, kidney failure, and heat-induced cardiac arrest annually, and 170,000 workers are injured from laboring in extreme heat.
James Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist and director of the University of Georgia’s atmospheric sciences program, is warning of the dangers of La Niña, a natural climate phenomenon that is expected to exacerbate global heating. “Record global warmth is often tied to El Niño, but as we transition to La Niña, it still looks to be a potentially record-breaking year. That clearly suggests to me that the anthropogenic signal is there,” he said.
Unless the world can transition away from fossil fuels, the future looks even hotter, with heatwaves expected to continue being more intense and frequent. As Shepherd put it, “Attribution studies are pretty decisive that heatwaves will continue to be more intense and frequent. These are not your grandparents’ heatwaves.”