Closing summary
It’s been a day filled with climate records being broken around the world. The Guardian will continue to bring you extensive coverage of extreme weather and the climate crisis across our site, but for now, this live blog is closing.
Here’s where the day stands:
Phoenix has officially broken its record for consecutive days with a temperature of 110F or higher. It’s been 19 days the city has suffered under these extreme temperatures, topping the previous record of 18 consecutive days of 110F or higher in 1974.
Miami is dealing with the worst heatwave on record with temperatures that feel like between 105 and 110F on Tuesday. On Sunday, Miami-Dade county was issued its first ever excessive heat warning.
Hospitals in Italy are seeing a sharp increase in the number of people seeking emergency care for heat-related illnesses as a heatwave continues to tear through the country. At 41.8C (107F), temperatures in the capital Rome set a new record.
Beijing has topped its record for high-temperature days in a year with 27 days. The previous record was set in 2000, when there were 26 high-temperature days that year.
I’m Erum Salam, signing off.
Updated
As cities like Phoenix and Miami swelter in record-breaking heat, House Republicans are offering their own solution to the climate crisis: planting trees.
Party members are moving away from denying the climate crisis altogether, the Associated Press reports.
The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, is at the helm of a conservative-led effort to address the warming planet by advocating for planting a trillion trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
While visiting a natural gas drilling site in north-east Ohio to promote House Republicans’ plan to increase domestic energy production from fossil fuels, McCarthy was asked about climate change, to which he responded: “We need to manage our forests better so our environment can be stronger. Let’s replace Russian natural gas with American natural gas and let’s not only have a cleaner world, let’s have a safer world.”
From the Associated Press:
Scientists overwhelmingly agree that heat-trapping gases released from the combustion of fossil fuels are pushing up global temperatures, upending weather patterns around the globe and endangering animal species. But the solution long touted by Democrats and environmental advocates – government action to force emissions reductions – remains a non-starter with most Republicans.
Enter the idea of planting a trillion trees. A 2019 study suggested that planting trees to suck up heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could be one of the most effective ways to fight climate change. Major conservation groups, and former President Donald Trump, who downplayed humanity’s role in climate change, embraced the idea.
But the tree-planting push has drawn intense pushback from environmental scientists who call it a distraction from cutting emissions from fossil fuels. The authors of the original study have also clarified that planting trees does not eliminate “the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Experts say that the temperatures in Arizona’s capital are extreme despite Phoenix’s usual sweltering summer months.
Matt Salerno, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, told the New York Times that despite the city’s usually high summer temperatures, the average temperature was above what was normal.
“We’re talking 10 degrees above where they normally are,” said Salerno to the Times.
David Hondula, director of the Phoenix’s office of heat response and mitigation, told the Washington Post that recorded temperatures were likely above what city residents have ever experienced.
“With the rapid population growth of Phoenix and how many people have been moving here, it is very likely that these are the highest temperatures that many Phoenicians have ever experienced,” he said.
Updated
Phoenix breaks 50-year record for most consecutive days of extreme heat
Phoenix has officially broken temperature records with the 19th consecutive day at or above 110F, according to data from the National Weather Service.
The previous record was set in 1974, nearly 50 years ago.
Arizona’s capital city, the fifth largest in the country, has been in the midst of an extreme heatwave. Phoenix’s hot months usually extend from April to September, but this latest stretch of extreme heat has offered little respite to city residents trying to stay cool.
The Phoenix area has already had 12 heat-related deaths in 2023, with 55 other deaths under investigation, according to the Maricopa county health department.
Updated
Turning back to Phoenix, Arizona’s capital city is now at 109F (42.8C), according to data from the National Weather Service.
Phoenix is expected to break temperature records today, reaching the most consecutive days above 110F (43.3C) since the record was set in 1974.
Less than an hour ago, Phoenix had a high temperature of 107F (41.6C).
The temperature in Phoenix is currently 107°F. For those that want to track the temperature as we push toward the record 19th straight day with a high of 110°F or higher, you can do so here: https://t.co/d785s03wbX #azwx pic.twitter.com/jdqBw8giV2
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 18, 2023
Updated
Like nearby Greece, Turkey continues to battle raging fires.
Three villages in the south-eastern province of Hatay were evacuated because of forest fires. Mersin, Canakkale and Izmir were also affected by the fires that began on Sunday.
The fires are being tackled from the air and on the ground. Helicopters carrying tanks of water were deployed by emergency services.
Turkey’s meteorological service predicted temperatures would hit at least 39C in parts of the country on Tuesday (18 July) – another example of extreme heat driven by the climate crisis.
Updated
Here are images showing the impact and magnitude of Typhoon Talim, which has caused major flooding in southern areas of China.
Updated
Typhoon Talim was downgraded to a tropical storm on Tuesday.
But the extreme weather disaster has still halted life for many in southern China. The Associated Press reports the national railway suspended 69 passenger trains in the city of Nanning and a dozen others altered their routes.
Classes were also cancelled in the region.
It is predicted Talim will continue to weaken as it moves further north-west until reaching northern Vietnam on Wednesday, China’s National Meteorological Center said.
Talim first made landfall in Guangdong province late Monday evening and left destruction in its wake.
Updated
Hospitals across Italy have seen a sharp rise in the number of people seeking emergency care for heat-related illnesses as a heatwave continues to grip the country, with temperatures in Rome setting a new record.
The Guardian’s Italy correspondent Angela Giuffrida reports that some hospitals reported a 20-25% increase in the numbers arriving at emergency units suffering from dehydration or other illnesses caused by over-exposure to the heat.
Temperatures in Rome hit 41.8C on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 40.7C set in June 2022. Sicily reached about 41C and there were highs of 45C in Sardinia.
In the southern city of Naples, the Cardarelli hospital said 231 patients had accessed emergency care there within the last 24 hours – the equivalent of one patient every six minutes and the highest daily number reached since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Areas of US north-east still recovering from major flooding
Areas of the US north-east are still recovering from major flooding.
Vermont and Pennsylvania experienced flash flooding this week after intense rainfall.
Five people died in Pennsylvania after flooding tore through south-eastern areas of the state. Two young children are still missing after being caught in flood waters while being driven to a barbecue. The siblings’ mother was found dead, while their father and another sibling made it to safety.
Vermont is still recovering after record-breaking flooding caused massive damage. Joe Biden has increased disaster assistance for Vermont to assist flooding victims, NBC 5 reported.
Updated
Water temperatures in south Florida are decreasing after reaching record temperatures last week, as scientists raise the alarm on the connection between high ocean temperatures and tropical storms.
The temperature of water in Miami is currently 88.5F, according to Sea Temperature, which tracks oceans’ temperatures worldwide. Last week, ocean temperatures reached 97F.
Scientists have warned that hotter ocean temperatures could cause a more intense hurricane season, CBS News reports:
Warm ocean water is one of the key ingredients for fueling hurricanes and it’s been in abundance so far this year. Scientists first sounded the alarm in April and the ocean warmth has only escalated since. Water in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic has been record warm, especially for this early in the year. It includes off the coast of Florida, where water temperatures in the Florida Keys were close to 97 degrees in some spots last week.
It is important because warm ocean water breeds stronger, bigger and wetter storms. It gives hurricanes the energy they need to grow and sometimes rapidly intensify, something hurricane forecasters told CNN we could see more of this season. Warm oceans can also lead to more evaporation and wring out more rainfall falling from any storms.
But hurricane season predictions involve more than just warm water. It’s just one factor in the birth and survival of tropical cyclones, and it is creating more uncertainty than usual in what could happen the rest of the hurricane season.
“Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty! That’s really the story going forward with this season,” said Dr Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Miami dealing with worst heatwave on record, says expert
Other US cities are also experiencing extreme heat, particularly Miami, Florida.
Miami is dealing with the worst heatwave on record, said meteorologist Brian McNoldy to Axios.
“Nothing prior even comes close” to the area’s ongoing heat wave, McNoldy said to Axios via email. The county’s heat index, what the temperature feels like, is between 105 and 110F on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Miami-Dade County was issued its first ever excessive heat warning, NBC Miami reported, as the heat index reached upwards of 112F.
7/18: Hot and unsettled conditions continue today as high temperatures reach the low 90 and heat indices approach the 105F-110F range. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop in the early afternoon hours, with gusty winds and heavy rainfall likely. #flwx pic.twitter.com/E5KXj9g2BM
— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) July 18, 2023
Updated
The low temperature in Phoenix for Tuesday morning was 94F, breaking temperature records.
The National Weather Service (NWS) Phoenix announced that Tuesday was the 9th day in a row where low temperatures have exceeded 90F (32.2C). The “normal” temperature is 85F, the NWS noted, breaking the temperature record for that date.
From the NWS Phoenix:
The low this morning in Phoenix was 94°F. This breaks the record warm low for the date and is the 9th consecutive day with a low temperature at or above 90°F. #azwx pic.twitter.com/l0azmr0cQv
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 18, 2023
Updated
The current high in Phoenix is 36.1C (97F), as forecasters predict that Arizona’s capital city could experience the most consecutive number of days above 43.3C.
The city will likely get its 19th consecutive day of high temperatures exceeding 43.3C, breaking a previous record set in 1974, the National Weather Service of Phoenix reports.
Phoenix’s high temperature is predicted to reach 117F, as much of the US south-west area deals with extreme heat. Phoenix residents experience little relief at night, as temperatures remain above 90F.
Phoenix officials have received criticism, as the city only has one cooling centre open 24/7 for its more than 1.6 million residents who may need shelter from the dangerous temperatures. Extreme heat is the cause of several health issues, raising the alarm for officials to find solutions for vulnerable residents at night.
Updated
The waters of the Yamuna river have reached the walls of the Taj Mahal for the first time in nearly half a century, according to local media, causing concern about damage to the 17th-century white marble monument.
Reuters reports that the water level of the has increased over the last few days after unusually heavy rain in northern India, including in Uttar Pradesh, which has received 108% of its normal rainfall since the four-month monsoon season began on 1 June.
Local media say the last time the water level reached such heights was 45 years ago, in 1978.
According to India’s Central Water Commission (CWC), the portion of the river flowing alongside the Taj Mahal rose to 152 metres (499 ft) on Tuesday; well above the warning level for potential danger of 151.4 metres. The level considered dangerous is 152.4 metres.
CWC data also indicates that its station near the monument recorded the river’s highest flood level that year at 154.76 metres.
Visuals from the area on Tuesday showed the red sandstone boundary wall of the Taj Mahal surrounded by muddy water, with the mausoleum itself looming over the scene, untouched by the river.
Officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which oversees the Taj Mahal along with several other monuments in the country, said there is “no serious concern” about the monument at present.
Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories are also in the grips of the extreme heat affecting large parts of Europe and the Mediterranean this week.
In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which is under a near-total Israeli and Egyptian blockade, power cuts of up to 12 hours a day are common, and more than 97% of the local water supply is not safe for human consumption.
Temperatures of more than 38C (100F) this week, and humidity of more than 80%, have worsened the power shortages, sparking an unusual wave of online criticism against the strip’s militant rulers, and calls for street protests.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which pays for Gaza’s electricity feed from Israel, blames the crisis on Hamas, who it said was responsible for collecting electricity revenues.
Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ati, a local journalist, told Reuters:
Our dreams have shrunk from (achieving) the right of return and liberating the homeland to one extra hour of electricity.
Much of the tiny strip’s population of 2.2 million people has packed the coastal enclave’s beaches this week. Thanks to a dedicated sewage cleanup effort in 2022, a majority of Gaza’s coastline was deemed clean enough to swim in for the first time in years.
Electricity demand from customers of the Arizona Public Service (APS) soared to an all-time peak for the second time in a week on 15 July, mirroring similar trends in Texas as grid operators grapple with a heatwave in parts of the United States, Reuters reports.
The peak demand of 8,191 megawatts (MW) was reached on 15 July after 17 consecutive days of temperatures at or above 110F (43C) and air conditioners working to keep Arizonans cool, the state’s largest utility said on Monday.
The prior record of 7,660 MW was hit on 30 July 2020, the APS said. It serves more than 1.3m homes and businesses in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties. Justin Joiner, the service’s vice president of resource management, says:
We’re using all the tools in our toolbox from solar power to natural gas to make sure customers can count on us for electricity every second of the day.
With extreme temperatures also hitting Europe during the peak summer tourist season, the World Meteorological Organization has said the heatwave in the northern hemisphere is set to intensify over the coming days, and warned of an increased risk to health.
In Texas, the grid operator representing about 90% of the state’s power load said on Monday that it had enough resources available to meet soaring demand, which broke records for a fourth time this summer. Power use is expected to peak again on Tuesday.
Beijing breaks record for number of high-temperature days recorded in a year
Beijing has topped its record for high-temperature days in a year, with 27 days, as a heatwave sweeps through the Chinese capital, Reuters reports.
At 12.20pm (0520 BST), the temperature measured by Beijing’s benchmark weather station in its southern suburbs soared to 35.1C (95.18F), breaking through the 35C high-temperature line.
The previous record for high-temperature days in a year was 26 days, logged in 2000 after the setting up the southern observatory in 1951.
In Beijing between 1990 and 2020, the average number of days with temperatures of 35C or more was 10.6, the official Beijing Daily has reported, citing official data.
Large swathes of China have experienced periods of extreme temperatures since last month and Beijing saw temperatures above 41C in June.
Large parts of the planet are gripped by extreme weather, adding further urgency to talks this week between the US and China; the world’s top greenhouse gas polluters.
Updated
Spanish political parties in the final days of campaigning before a 23 July snap general election have adapted to the blistering heat through measures, such as changing the venues and timing of their rallies and building an online presence, Reuters reports.
As parts of the country face temperatures of more than 40C (104F), the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is campaigning in the city of Huesca, near the Pyrenees mountains, which has recorded an average temperature of 27.8C.
Later on Tuesday, he is set to appear in the northern coastal city of San Sebastian, where the maximum temperature forecast is 25C, according to the weather agency Aemet.
Apart from choosing the coolest locations, parties have limited the amount of outdoor campaigning.
“We designed the campaign as something more audiovisual, with a lot of television, radio, podcasts, and also interviews in the press,” a spokesperson for Sanchez’s Socialist party has told Reuters, adding this was “partly due to the logic of holding fewer outdoor events because of the time of year”. It also uses air-conditioned indoor venues “so that attendees can be comfortable”.
The opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), which leads opinion polls, has held rallies in the early morning or later than usual, a PP official has told the news agency. Participants are given bottles of water, hand fans, baseball caps and other “summery merchandise”, he added. Its leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had criticised the choice of date for the snap election, citing the heat and the holiday season, gave a speech on Monday under the shade of the trees lining Barcelona’s lush Turó Park.
A spokesperson for far-right party Vox said it preferred to hold rallies outdoors to accommodate larger crowds, but starting after 8.30pm to avoid the hottest hours of the day.
The leftwing Sumar party says most of its events had been indoors. “For those that have been outdoors, we’ve tried to guarantee shady spaces where the public could be as comfortable as possible,” a spokesperson has said.
Updated
The National Weather Service Phoenix says the abnormal temperatures are likely to continue through the rest of the week.
Phoenix is on pace to see its 19th consecutive day with highs reaching 110+ °F today, which will break the old record set back in 1974. Well above normal temperatures will continue through the rest of the week with an Excessive Heat Warning remaining in effect. #azwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/ajvPjzqYzC
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 18, 2023
Updated
Summary
Here is a summary of the latest extreme weather headlines on Tuesday.
The heatwave across the northern hemisphere will intensify this week, with a surge in overnight temperatures and increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the UN’s weather forecaster has said. Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40C for a prolonged number of days,” said the World Meteorological Organization
The EU has announced it will weigh in with help to combat wildfires in Greece after Athens requested support from fellow member states. European Commission spokesperson Janez Lenarcic said firefighting planes would be dispatched to the country from Italy and France after activation of the bloc’s civil protection mechanism.
In Greece, swaths of virgin pine forests have been destroyed as devastating wildfires continue to tear through terrain turned tinder-dry by the extreme heat. As daylight broke, firefighters renewed efforts to contain wind-fanned blazes in Boeotia, north east Attica, Loutraki and Dervenochoria. In some cases firefighters battled throughout the night to put out flames.
About 200 people in Switzerland have been forced to flee their homes in an Alpine village as firefighters battled a large forest fire above it. The fire broke out Monday in a forest above the village of Bitsch in the upper Wallis region in southern Switzerland. About 150 firefighters were currently trying to contain the fire, which officials said is spreading rapidly.
Typhoon Talim reached Vietnam on Tuesday after passing through China less forcefully than feared. No deaths have been reported in either country despite nearly 260,000 people relocating before the storm hit. Talim first made landfall in southern China late Monday evening, battering the coast of Guangdong province with maximum winds of 136.8km an hour (85mph).
Sicily and Sardinia expected to see highest-ever temperature in Europe today. Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is bracing for its hottest-ever temperature on Italy’s islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where a high of 48C has been forecast by the European Space Agency today. Temperatures are expected to hit as high as 43C in Rome on Tuesday.
Heat stroke alerts were in place in Tokyo and five nearby areas on Tuesday, along with 16 other prefectures across the west and south of Japan. Temperatures had reached 37.4C in central Tokyo and 38.4C in Kumagaya, north of Tokyo by lunchtime, and are expected to rise further in the afternoon.
Phoenix expected to break record for length of heatwave. Phoenix’s relentless streak of dangerously hot days is expected to break a record for major US cities on Tuesday, with the desert city experiencing its 19th straight day of temperatures of 110F (43.3C) or more.
Speaking in Beijing before a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, US climate envoy John Kerry has said that the two countries “can begin to change the broader relationship [between them] through climate talks”. Climate experts hope progress will be made on tackling methane and coal production.
That’s it from me, Damien Gayle. I am leaving you in the capable hands of my colleague Kevin Rawlinson.
Updated
Phoenix, Arizona, expected to have record-breaking 19th day of 110F (43.3C) heat
Arizona’s state capital, Phoenix, was expected to have a record-breaking 19th consecutive day of highs of at least 110F (43.3C) on Tuesday, as the US is sweltering in a record-breaking summer affecting millions of people.
The US city, which is the fifth biggest in the country with a population of about 1.6 million, often ranks as the hottest or one of the hottest in the country, and had a previous record of 18 consecutive days of 110F or higher in 1974.
Phoenix, where the hot months now stretch from April to September, equalled that record on Monday and went past it on Tuesday to create a new record of 19 days of 110F or higher heat.
National Weather Service Phoenix tweeted on Monday: “Another hot day (and week) ahead, with today expected to tie the record for Phoenix of most consecutive days of high temperatures reaching or exceeding 110 degrees at 18 days. The excessive heat warning is now in effect through Friday evening.”
Updated
EU to send firefighting planes to Greece
The EU has announced it will weigh in with help to combat wildfires in Greece after Athens requested support from fellow member states, reports Helena Smith, the Guardian’s correspondent in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.
European Commission spokesperson Janez Lenarcic said four Canadair firefighting planes would be dispatched to the country from Italy and France after activation of the bloc’s civil protection mechanism.
Blazes on several fronts in the greater Athens area have stretched forces thin despite Greek authorities already being assisted by Romanian firefighters.
News of the assistance came as it was announced that fires had reignited in the area of Dervenochoria, about 30 miles north of Athens.
Fanned by shifting winds the blaze had not only proved hard to contain but had spread with such speed that several settlements were now under evacuation orders.
About 250 firefighters with the aid of 75 trucks and water-dumping planes are battling to extinguish the fast-moving conflagration. Describing the air as being so thick with smoke it was difficult to see, the mayor of Mandra, Christos Stathis, attributed the lack of firefighting planes to the pace with which the flames had spread.
“Until 4am there was no problem with fires in the wider region of Mandra,” he said. “Unfortunately the lack of firefighting planes have brought these negative results. I am in Panorama where we have issued precautionary evacuation [orders] and the fire is moving with great speed.”
Another fire in Loutraki, a resort town in the Gulf of Corinth, has also reignited according to reports.
“Right now there are several active fires and many flare-ups in Loutraki,” said the fire department’s spokesperson, Ioannis Artophios.
Meteorologists are saying that with winds forecast to increase, Wednesday will be an “exceptionally difficult” day. Predictions of winds dying down Thursday will bring relief on the forest fire front but experts are already saying what will come in their place - temperatures of about 44C - is likely to outstrip the extreme heat of last weekend, both in terms of intensity and duration.
Updated
It is not just Europe struggling under severe heat this afternoon. A heatwave in the Gaza Strip has sent temperatures soaring over 38C, worsening power shortages and inciting discontent among residents, Reuters reports.
More than 2.3 million people live in the narrow strip of land squeezed between Egypt, Israel and the eastern Mediterranean sea, where they suffer power cuts for up to 12 hours a day.
The area needs about 500 megawatts of power per day in summer, according to local officials. It receives 120MW from Israel while the enclave’s lone power plant supplies another 60MW.
Gaza residents are calling for the local generator to produce more power by operating the plant at full capacity. Local journalist Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ati told Reuters: “Our dreams have shrunk from [achieving the right of return and liberating the homeland to one extra hour of electricity.”
Jalal Ismail, the Hamas-appointed chairman of the Gaza Energy Authority, said the problem was driven by the soaring heatwave.
Many residents shared videos of darkness at night and of their children sleeping on the floor to cool themselves. While claiming Israel was primarily responsible for the energy problem, they demanded action from Hamas, the group which governs the territory.
“We haven’t witnessed such heat in years, and we get electricity for around six hours a day, so I can’t fan my children, so I am using the plastic tray to fan them because of the severe heat,” said Yasmin Fojo, a mother of five from Nahrelbared camp in southern Gaza Strip.
Thousands of people packed the beaches, escaping the heat and power cuts at home. In the middle of a dusty, unpaved road, about 20 children squeezed into an inflatable paddling pool to find respite from the heat.
Updated
Three regions of Spain have been issued red alerts for hot weather, due to the extreme danger posed by scorching temperatures. AFP has the story:
Weather agency Aemet said temperatures would hit highs between 38C (100F) and 42C (107.6F) across much of the drought-hit country, sending people to seek shade from a blistering sun.
The heat is expected to be even worse in the eastern regions of Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands where thermometers could reach 44C.
The weather office issued a red alert for these three regions, warning the danger from the heat would be extreme.
The authorities recommended that people stay indoors during the hottest part of the day and drink plenty of water.
The interior ministry said much of the country was facing a “very high” or “extreme” risk of wildfires due to the scorching temperatures, which are affecting most of the Mediterranean.
About 400 firefighters backed by nine water-dropping aircraft were battling a wildfire raging since Saturday in wooded, hilly terrain on the island of La Palma, one of the eight making up the Canary Islands in the Atlantic.
Cooler overnight temperatures and higher air humidity levels helped firefighters to gain the upper hand in their battle against the blaze, said the Canary Islands’ minister for territorial policy, Manuel Miranda.
“I think the evolution of the fire will greatly improve in the coming hours,” he told a news conference on Tuesday morning.
The fire has destroyed about 3,500 hectares (8,700 acres) of land, burned around 20 houses and buildings and temporarily forced 4,000 residents to evacuate.
Updated
The heatwave across the northern hemisphere will intensify this week, with a surge in overnight temperatures and increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the UN’s weather forecaster has said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization said:
Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40°C for a prolonged number of days this week as the heatwave intensifies
In a warning echoing that of Spanish expert Dominic Royé, quoted earlier, increased minimum temperatures, set to reach new highs, would also likely lead t increased cases of heart attacks and deaths, the WMO said.
Whilst most of the attention focuses on daytime maximum temperatures, it is the overnight temperatures which have the biggest health risks, especially for vulnerable populations
In a subsequent briefing to reporters in Geneva, John Nairn, a senior extreme heat advisor at the WMO, said the world needed to prepare for increasingly intense heat.
He sais the number of drawn-out and simultaneous heatwaves in the northern hemisphere had swelled sixfold since the 1980s, AFP reported.
This trend shows no signs of decreasing.
So we’re in for a bit of a ride, I’m afraid, and they will have quite serious impacts on human health and livelihoods.
Just Stop Oil protesters have unsurprisingly highlighted the intense heatwave across Europe as they disrupted traffic on the streets of London this morning.
Supporters of the climate activist group, which calls for a halt to all new oil and gas projects, marched from 30 locations in the UK capital, in their 13th consecutive weeks of slow marching protests.
Among them was Tom Williams, a 31-year-old scientist from Cambridge, he said:
Climate collapse is here, now, you just have to look at the front page of the news. That means every fraction of a degree of warming matters, every tonne of carbon is more deaths and lives ruined. Our government knows that. Every day we see new and terrifying headlines, giving us a glimpse of the un-liveable future they are pushing us towards. Our governments’ policy is killing people so they can line their own pockets.
We need a government that moves past this corruption and greed and instead invests the money they pour into new oil and gas into clean energy, cheap public transport and all the other infrastructure we so badly need. Anyone can stand up, and if enough of us do, we can protect ourselves and others.
According to Just Stop Oil, 180 of its supporters marched on key roads in north, south and west London. They faced anger from members of the public, including some who threw drinks at marchers or shoved them out of the road, a moped rider and a driver who steered their vehicles into them, and one pedestrian who attacked marchers with a skateboard, Just Stop Oil said.
One of the morning’s marches was made up of a group of scientists. Among them, was Dr Tristram Wyatt, 66, emeritus fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, who said:
I study animal behaviour, across the animal kingdom. So many species are going extinct, even as we study them. They are victims of the climate catastrophe, driven by burning fossil fuels.
The science is clear: we can have no new fossil fuel projects. We must just stop new oil, not give 100 more licences as this government is doing, against the advice of its own scientists and its own pledges.
There’s an unprecedented heatwave all over southern Europe, including places like Spain that export fruit and veg to us. The heatwave is killing the crops we all depend on. Food prices will rise.
Why minimum, as well as maximum, temperatures are important
Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 39C in Spain today, as the country continues to swelter under the Cerberus heatwave bearing down on southern Europe.
But it is not merely the maximum temperatures that are causing problems. High minimum temperatures mean there is no respite, one expert has told Ajit Niranjan, the Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent. Dominic Royé, a public health expert at the Climate Research Foundation in Madrid, said:
We pay a lot of attention to the maximums, but we forget about the minimums, excess heat during the night increases mortality risks. During extreme temperatures, high night temperatures, along with high diurnal temperatures, can result in prolonged thermal stress, which is aggravated by the fact that the human body is prevented from nocturnal rest.
This morning in Madrid the recorded minimum temperature was 25.2C which is not only a tropical night (a usually used definition) it is already an equatorial night (> 25C) . In recent study we estimated a mortality risk (independent of diurnal temperatures) of 26% for a high excess index. Even a 12% risk for long duration for this kind of heat excess.
When we suffer high night temperature it can lead to alteration and deprivation of sleep due to the necessary processes of thermoregulation, in consequence, it erode human sleep, which will increase with climate change since minimum temperature are increasing more rapidly. In this context, we have to keep in mind that in urbanised areas we observe the urban heat island, higher temperatures than outlying areas, which contributes to high night temperature records.
Several Spanish regions were placed on red alert on Tuesday due to the “extreme danger” posed by the continuing heatwave.
According to the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet), temperatures are expected to fluctuate between 38C and 42C in much of central Spain, rising to 43C or even 44C in the east of the country, particularly in Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands.
On Monday, the Foreign Office issued a warning to British holidaymakers in Spain. The FCDO said: “Extreme temperatures are currently affecting many areas of Spain. For severe weather warnings and updates, visit the Spanish Meteorological Office (AEMET) and European Meteorological Services website.”
Updated
Swiss villagers forced to flee as forest fire grows
About 200 people in Switzerland have been forced to flee their homes in an Alpine village as firefighters battled a large forest fire above it. According to AFP:
The fire broke out Monday in a forest above the village of Bitsch in the upper Wallis region in southern Switzerland. The fire is on the north side of the steep Rhone river valley.
“A major intervention system was quickly put in place. It is still fighting the rapidly spreading fire,” Wallis police said in a statement.
Local firefighters were joined by civilian and military helicopters.
“About 150 firefighters are currently fighting tirelessly against the fire which is, for the time being, not yet under control. Work to extinguish the fire continues,” the police said.
Four small hamlets were evacuated. State broadcaster RTS, citing the Wallis police, said 205 people had been evacuated. Most found somewhere to stay with friends and family.
No injuries to people or animals, and no damages to buildings have been reported.
Police said an investigation had been opened to determine what caused the fire. Firefighters expect to have to fight the last of the fire for several days or even weeks.
Local fire chief Mario Schaller said about 100 hectares of forest had been affected, ATS reported. The fire has “gradually stabilised”, he said.
“As long as the smoke has not disappeared, there will be no let-up,” he said, noting that the wind in the valley is always stronger in the afternoon.
Updated
Soaring temperatures in recent days, widely accepted as the fruits of decades of huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions, have led to renewed predictions of catastrophe for the human race.
Is there still anything we can do to forestall a potentially dire – or even non-existent – future for our children? Gaia Vince, the science writer, thinks there is, as long as we navigate our way through the five stages of grief we are feeling for our ravaged planet. She has written for the Guardian’s opinion section.
Land temperatures have hit 60C in Spain, satellite data shows, with tourists warned to stay off beaches throughout the Mediterranean. Across the pond, more than 100 million Americans are still under extreme heat warnings. The “heat dome” squatting over the south sent thermometers soaring to 56C in Death Valley yesterday, close to the hottest ever recorded on Earth.
The sea is little cooler, with Florida ocean temperatures well above 30C. Further north on land, people are being rescued by dinghies and helicopters from suburban streets as heavy rain causes flooding across Pennsylvania and New York and into New England. Vermont has declared a state of emergency. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for parts of the midwest, and a severe thunderstorm watch for other states. Parts of Canada have been on fire for months.
Conditions are similarly apocalyptic elsewhere. Cars swirl like bath toys down flooded streets in Japan and India. China has been cooking for weeks in temperatures in the 40Cs, with power outages as grids struggle to cope. In Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, temperatures of 48C are expected. Last year, more than 60,000 died here from heat; this year will be hotter. Normal has gone: this is our new world.
Updated
Readers in the UK, where temperatures for many are below the July average, and rain is forecast, may well be looking at the news coming in from elsewhere with some measure of puzzlement.
Still more bewildering is that this time last year, Britain was sweltering in its highest ever temperature. In an analysis circulated by the Science Media Centre, Prof John Marsham, of the school of Earth and environment at the University of Leeds, has addressed the apparent discrepancy. He says:
I think a lot of people in the UK are really questioning what’s going on with the weather now. 40C (104F) last summer, this year our warmest June on record, but now it’s July and it feels like it’s raining every day. Meanwhile news headlines are showing the ongoing heatwave in southern Europe, which may break records.
I like to think I’m fairly on top of weather news but it’s actually getting very hard to keep up with the sheer number of extremes affecting people globally now, with extreme heat and floods affecting the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, Europe and others. There are at least 80 million people under extreme heat warnings on Sunday in the US alone. That’s about one in four Americans. And of course other parts of the US have had floods.
I think people are really waking up now to the fact that the man-made climate crisis is very much to blame, and that we have to act. Pollution from fossil fuels has heated our planet, and this makes not only heatwaves more likely and more intense, but also increases extreme rainfall and floods. The extreme weather is already leading to crop losses, high food prices and loss of life. This will continue to get worse, and wipe out entire ecosystems, unless we rapidly make the switch from fossil fuels to renewables and clean power.
Updated
CCTV cameras have captured a wildfire ripping through a valley in California.
The state is experiencing record high temperatures from a heatwave that began scorching the region last week.
Firefighters continued battling a large brush blaze nicknamed the Rabbit Fire near Beaumont in Riverside County. The fire started burning on Friday and has covered more than 3,200 hectares. It was 35% contained by Monday according to the Riverside County fire department.
The time-lapse video shows the apocalyptic scenes as the fire spreads across a ridge and past the mobile phone mast on which the camera is mounted, even as firefighters try to battle it.
Heatwave warnings remained in effect for the region, while the ongoing heatwave continues to bring oppressive conditions to central California.
Updated
Reuters has more details on the wildfires burning through the forests around Athens, which we reported on earlier. According to the news agency, fires continued to rage uncontrolled through forests in the area of Dervenochoria, about 30km north of Athens, but firefighters were containing others to the west and the south-east of the Greek capital.
A fire that broke out on Monday in the village of Kouvaras, about 27km (17 miles) south-east of Athens, was weakening. Fanned by shifting winds, that fire had quickly spread to the coastal towns of Anavyssos, Lagonisi and Saronida, forcing people to flee their homes.
A Greek fire service official said on Tuesday that 230 firefighters assisted by 76 fire engines and five helicopters were still operating at different spots in the area. “Civil protection forces gave an all-night fight,” said Ioannis Artopoios in a televised briefing.
A thick layer of white smoke was visible from Athens as a third blaze burned near the seaside resort of Loutraki, about 80km west of the capital.
The Greek meteorological service has warned of a high risk of fire this week, just as the country is recovering from the first significant heatwave of the summer. A second heatwave is forecast for later this week.
Updated
There is no doubt the heatwaves currently gripping southern Europe, the US, and parts of Asia are “hotter and longer because of human-induced climate change”, climate scientist Friederike Otto said on Tuesday morning.
Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, is an author on the International Panel on Climate Change and co-lead of World Weather Attribution (WWA), a international team of scientists who study the impact of the climate crisis on extreme weather events.
She told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4:
The science has really moved on when it comes to attributing individual weather events. And we know that every heatwave that is happening today is hotter and longer because of human-induced climate change.
So we know, without having done an attribution study, that also this heatwave is hotter than it would have been without climate change. How much hotter? We need to run the numbers for that. But we know that climate change is a huge factor here.
As long as factories, power stations, ships, cars and planes continue to spew their exhaust gases into the atmosphere, things can only get hotter, Otto said.
This is not a surprise that we see heat waves like this across the northern hemisphere in the summer now. It’s what we have expected to see with the current levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
And we know very well that as long as we keep burning fossil fuels, these temperatures will keep increasing temperature records will keep on getting broken.
And, yeah, depending on when we stop burning fossil fuels, in the future, this might not even be a hot summer.
Updated
Greece battles to contain wildfires
Swaths of virgin pine forests have been destroyed in Greece as devastating wildfires continue to tear through terrain turned tinder-dry by the extreme heat, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian’s correspondent in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.
As daylight broke, firefighters renewed efforts to contain wind-fanned blazes in Boeotia, north east Attica, Loutraki and Dervenochoria. In some cases firefighters backed by water-dumping planes, helicopters and trucks, battled throughout the night to put out flames.
Soldiers and volunteers are assisting the national fire service. There were reports on Tuesday that three volunteer firefighters had been injured by flying shards of ash as they struggled to extinguish fires around the seaside town of Saronida, south of Athens. Greeks in affected areas woke up to apocalyptic scenes and the devastation of discovering the loss of properties and homes.
Speaking on Skai TV this morning,Haris Vitiniotis, the vice-prefect of Corinth, spoke of a desperate situation, saying fires were continuing to whip through pine forests around the seaside resort of Loutraki. “For sure there are many properties that have been destroyed,” he said. “Mainly houses. Around 20 to 25 houses have been completely burned.” The vast majority were summer homes owned by Greeks, he added.
Local media reported that in conflagrations spread by high-speed winds around Athens untold numbers of animals had also died late Monday. Fazoo Farm, a stray dog shelter near the coastal resort of Lagonissi, had been burned to the ground with very few animals surviving the onslaught of flames.
#Wildfires burn in southeastern Attica tonight, near Athens. #Greece #φωτιά
— Savvas Karmaniolas (@savvaskarma) July 17, 2023
pic.twitter.com/rGb8b0GvSd
Updated
Not everywhere is hot. People in the UK will be buttoning up their raincoats today, as a band of rain sweeps into the country from the Atlantic, with forecasters predicting “it’s not going to feel very summer-like”.
According to a forecast from the Met Office, an area of low pressure from the west will push clouds and heavy rain across Ireland and much of the British Isles on Tuesday. Only in the south-east, which will avoid most of the rain, will temperatures rise much above 20C.
It is a far cry from the weather this time last year. We are just one day shy of a year since the UK’s record-breaking temperature of 40.3C was set in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on 19 July 2022.
This is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the live blog now in from London. I’ll take you through the next few hours of updates on the heatwave affecting other parts of the world. Drop me a message on Twitter or Instagram if you see any heatwave-related news you think we have missed.
Updated
Greenpeace East Asia has described US climate envoy John Kerry’s meeting with officials in Beijing as “a hopeful signal”.
On Tuesday, Kerry met with the ruling Communist party’s head of foreign relations, Wang Yi, telling him Biden hoped the two countries could “achieve efforts together that can make a significant difference to the world.” On Monday, he met with his counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in the first face-to-face climate discussions between the two countries since relations were frozen last August.
Li Shuo, a Beijing-based senior policy analysis with Greenpeace East Asia, said:
This continued conversation going to someone as high up as Premier Li is a positive sign …
Substantial differences remain. Persistent efforts on both sides are the only way to bridge the remaining gaps, including taking concerted steps to stop coal and methane and align on the global stocktake at Cop 28. The rest of Kerry’s visit should also include ensuring follow-up conversations as a priority.
In this scorching heat, the common ground to act on climate is all around us. We are in a climate emergency.”
I’m now handing over to my colleague in London, Damien Gayle.
Updated
Typhoon Talim reached Vietnam on Tuesday after passing through China less forcefully than feared, reports Reuters. No deaths have been reported in either country despite nearly 260,000 people relocating before the storm hit.
Talim first made landfall in southern China late Monday evening, battering the coast of Guangdong province with maximum winds of 136.8km an hour (85mph).
By Tuesday, it had weakened to a tropical storm as it slowly made its way across the Vietnamese island of Bach Long Vi before moving towards the neighbouring Chinese region of Guangxi.
The storm passed by Bach Long Vi, an outlying island east of the capital, Hanoi, “with maximum winds of about 60km per hour” the national weather bureau said on Tuesday.
Authorities revoked an evacuation order in the northern port city of Hai Phong, a day after 30,000 people were relocated from there and the province of Quang Ninh.
“People’s activities have returned to normal in the city,” state newspaper Thanh Nien reported.
Vietnam’s second-biggest airport, in Hanoi, closed on Tuesday, disrupting hundreds of flights, according to local media reports.
Authorities warned that heavy rains, flooding and landslides could still pose a risk in northern provinces after the storm passed.
Updated
Here’s a look back at temperatures recorded yesterday across Europe via Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian.
European Heat Wave:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) July 17, 2023
Temperature rose as high as 45.7C at Villanova, In Sardinia,Italy, new 2023 European highest.
Few monthly records fell today:
42.8C Toledo,Spain tied
38.0C Campobasso,Italy
41.0C Zenica, Bosnia tied
27.5C Isola 2000 (1912m asl), France
Hotter tomorrow pic.twitter.com/MOsXPNHL4j
Soaring temperatures across southern Europe could prompt a lasting shift in tourist habits, with more travellers choosing cooler destinations or taking their holidays in spring or autumn to dodge the extreme heat, according to a report by Reuters.
The number of people hoping to travel to the Mediterranean region in June to November has already fallen 10% compared with last year, when scorching weather led to droughts and wildfires, European Travel Commission (ETC) data shows.
Destinations such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland and Bulgaria have, meanwhile, received a spike in interest.
“We anticipate that unpredictable weather conditions in the future will have a greater impact on travellers’ choices in Europe,” said Miguel Sanz, the head of the ETC.
A report by the trade body also shows 7.6% of travellers now regard extreme weather events as a major concern for trips between June and November.
Updated
This is Rebecca Ratcliffe in Bangkok, taking over from my colleague Helen Sullivan. As Europe braces for the peak of a punishing heatwave, AFP has produced the following roundup:
Near Athens, emergency services were battling wildfires in Kouvaras and the resorts of Lagonissi, Anavyssos and Saronida.
“We have the last house up at the mountain and we will stay up all night to see how the situation develops and if a firetruck arrives,” local resident Kelly Spyropoulou, 35, told AFP late on Monday.
Several homes were burned in the area, according to footage from public broadcaster ERT.
A forest fire flared in strong winds by the popular beach town of Loutraki, where the mayor said 1,200 children had been evacuated from holiday camps.
Italians were warned to prepare for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time” as temperatures hit a near-record 39C in Rome on Monday.
It was already the world’s hottest June on record, according to the EU weather monitoring service, and July looks set to break records as well.
Spain enjoyed little reprieve, with temperatures of 44.7C reported Monday in the southern town of Jaen.
In Cyprus, where temperatures are expected to remain above 40C through Thursday, a 90-year-old man died as a result of heatstroke and three other seniors were hospitalised, health officials said.
Summary
That is it from me, Helen Sullivan. I’m handing over to my colleague Rebecca Ratcliffe, as Europe prepares for what is set to be another dangerously hot day.
Here are the key recent developments:
Sicily and Sardinia expected to see highest-ever temperature in Europe today. Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is bracing for its hottest-ever temperature on Italy’s islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where a high of 48C (118F) has been forecast by the European Space Agency today. Temperatures are expected to hit as high as 43C in Rome on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007.
Heat stroke alerts were in place in Tokyo and five nearby areas on Tuesday, along with 16 other prefectures across the west and south of Japan, the Guardian’s Gavin Blair reports. Temperatures had reached 37.4C in central Tokyo and 38.4C in Kumagaya, north of Tokyo by lunchtime, and are expected to rise further in the afternoon.
Phoenix expected to break record for length of heatwave. Phoenix’s relentless streak of dangerously hot days is expected to break a record for major US cities on Tuesday, with the desert city experiencing its 19th straight day of temperatures of 110F (43.3C) or more.
Nearly 230,000 people in Guangdong were evacuated on Monday before typhoon Talim struck, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Local authorities in Guangdong had also ordered the closure of 68 coastal tourist destinations, called back 2,702 fishing vessels and ordered 8,262 fish-farming workers to be evacuated ashore, Xinhua said.
Speaking in Beijing before a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, US climate envoy John Kerry has said that the two countries “can begin to change the broader relationship [between them] through climate talks”. Among the things climate experts hope will emerge from the meeting and the relationship between China and the US going forward is progress made on tackling methane and coal production.
Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.
In South Korea, rescue workers have recovered the last body and ended search operations at a flooded underpass where more than a dozen people died in an incident that is now the subject of multiple official probes.
Demand for power in Texas hit a record high on Monday as homes and businesses kept air conditioners cranked up to escape a heatwave. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said that after setting 11 demand records last summer, usage hit a preliminary 81,911 megawatts (MW) on Monday, which would top the current all-time high of 81,406 MW set on 13 July.
Updated
Sicily and Sardinia facing near-record temperatures
Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is bracing for one of its hottest-ever temperatures on Italy’s islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where a high of 48C (118F) has been forecast by the European Space Agency today, AFP reports.
Other forecasters, however, expect the temperature there to peak at around 46C.
It comes as Italians have been warned to prepare for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time” as temperatures hit a near-record 39C in Rome on Monday.
World Meteorological Organization secretary-general Petteri Taala said:
The extreme weather ... is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies.
This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible.
Updated
Heat stroke alerts in place for Tokyo
Heat stroke alerts are in place in Tokyo and five nearby areas, along with 16 other prefectures across the west and south of Japan, the Guardian’s Gavin Blair reports. Temperatures had reached 37.4C in central Tokyo and 38.4C in Kumagaya, north of Tokyo by lunchtime, and are expected to rise further in the afternoon.
With the mercury forecast to be pushing 40C today in Nagoya in central Japan, schools have cancelled sport and other outdoor activities.
High levels of humidity, which reduced the effectiveness of sweating to cool the body, mean the heat index – representing how hot it feels — is well into the 40s across much of the country.
Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued an emergency warning for landslides and floods for Iwate prefecture in Japan’s north following days of torrential rain, plus a warning (one rank lower on the advisory scale) for neighbouring Akita prefecture.
Temperature records continue to be broken in Japan this year, following the warmest average spring since records began, along with cherry trees blooming earlier than ever previously recorded.
Nearly 4,000 people were taken to hospital suffering from heatstroke in the first week of July.
Phoenix expected to break record for length of heatwave
Phoenix’s relentless streak of dangerously hot days is expected to break a record for major US cities on Tuesday, with the desert city experiencing its 19th straight day of temperatures of 110F (43.3C) or more, AP reports.
Phoenix’s low of 95F (35C) on Monday was its highest overnight low ever, toppling the previous record of 93F (33.8C) set in 2009. It was the eighth straight day of temperatures not falling below 90F (32.2C), another record.
The length of Phoenix’s heatwave is notable even during a summer in which much of the southern United States and the world as a whole has been cooking in record temperatures, something scientists say is stoked by climate change.
What’s going on in a metropolitan area known as the Valley of the Sun is far worse than a short spike in the thermometer, experts said, and it poses a health danger to many.
“Long-term exposure to heat is more difficult to withstand than single hot days, especially if it is not cooling off at night enough to sleep well,” said Katharine Jacobs, director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions at the University of Arizona.
“This will likely be one of the most notable periods in our health record in terms of deaths and illness,” said David Hondula, chief heat officer for the City of Phoenix. “Our goal is for that not to be the case.”
Almost 230,000 people evacuated from Guangdong ahead of typhoon Talim
Nearly 230,000 people in Guangdong were evacuated on Monday before typhoon Talim struck, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
Local authorities in Guangdong had also ordered the closure of 68 coastal tourist destinations, called back 2,702 fishing vessels and ordered 8,262 fish-farming workers to be evacuated ashore, Xinhua said.
In Guangxi’s Nanning city, state media reported 35 passenger train services have been disrupted and 26 flights cancelled since Monday. In Hainan, an island province to the south of Guangdong, railway services were gradually being restored on Tuesday morning after being suspended the previous day.
The effects of the typhoon were felt more then 1,000 km to the northeast in Fuzhou city in Fujian province.
Updated
Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, AP reports, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.
AP: Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kph (45 mph).
The army, police special forces and volunteer rescuers freed retirees from their homes, rescued horses from a stable, and helped monks flee a monastery threatened by the flames.
Updated
The extent of ice in Antarctica has also been setting records this year – for how little there is.
Satellite data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows that not only is 2023 a significant outlier. 2022 ended with some of the lowest sea ice extents on record. But the gap to the long-run average for this time of year appears to be getting larger.
Sea surface temperatures are also higher than in recent decades, according to the NOAA models. Monthly data shows that the temperature anomaly – the difference between the current temperatures and the long run average – has been positive and on an upward trend for decades.
Satellite observations and climate models are showing how extreme the weather is around the world. Recent average global air temperatures are significantly higher than in decades, as are global sea surface temperatures. Meanwhile the level of sea ice in Antarctica continues to set records for how little there is.
For the past two weeks the average air temperature around the globe has been higher than any other time in the past 44 years, according to a model of average air temperatures created the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The data shows the average temperature at 2 meters above the surface (land and sea).
This data is created by a model – not actual recorded observations – and so isn’t sufficient to set a climate record. But scientists agree that the climate crisis is reaching uncharted territory.
Updated
Rescue workers have recovered the last body and ended search operations at a flooded underpass in South Korea where more than a dozen people died in an incident that is now the subject of multiple official probes.
Search and rescue operations at the 430-metre (1,410-foot) tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, ended late Monday after rescuers recovered the last body, the interior ministry said according to AFP.
The tunnel was inundated on Saturday morning after floodwaters swept in too quickly for the vehicles inside to escape.
A total of 17 vehicles, including a bus, were trapped and 14 people were killed, the interior ministry said.
Updated
The UN announced Monday that the 48.8C recorded on the Italian island of Sicily in 2021 had been verified as the European high temperature record, against which the current heatwave will be measured.
AFP reports: The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) keeps the World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive and painstakingly verifies any claimed records including for temperature, rainfall, aridity, wind speeds and lightning.
“WMO has accepted a new temperature record for continental Europe of 48.8C (119.8F) measured in Sicily on 11 August 2021,” the organisation said.
“It is possible that this record may be broken in the coming days as the heatwave intensifies.”
The previous verified record for the highest temperature recorded in continental Europe was 48C (118.4F), set in Athens on 10 July 1977.
Updated
Texas power demand hits record high
Demand for power in Texas hit a record high on Monday as homes and businesses kept air conditioners cranked up to escape a heatwave.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid for more than 26 million customers representing about 90% of the state’s power load, has said it has enough resources available to meet soaring demand.
After setting 11 demand records last summer, ERCOT said usage hit a preliminary 81,911 megawatts (MW) on Monday, which would top the current all-time high of 81,406 MW set on 13 July.
That is the fourth record high this summer and will likely be broken again on Tuesday with demand expected to reach 86,575 MW.
Updated
Back to Beijing now, where US climate envoy John Kerry has told Chinese officials global warming represents a “threat to all of humankind” and requires “global leadership”.
“Climate, as you know, is a global issue, not a bilateral issue. It’s a threat to all of humankind,” Kerry told China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, stressing it was “a matter of global leadership”.
“We’re very hopeful that this can be the beginning not just of a conversation between you and me and us on the climate track, but that we can begin to change the broader relationship, the world really hopes for that and needs it,” he added.
Forty or more people have died in less than a week of heavy rains in South Korea – including 14 who died when floodwaters trapped them in an underpass in the city of Cheongju – casting doubt on the country’s efforts to prepare for localised and intense downpours, Reuters reports.
Experts say the pledge for better preparation has not been followed by setting aside the monies needed, while spending remains too focused on recovery and not enough on prevention.
Jeong Chang-sam, an engineering professor at Induk University in Seoul specialising in water resources, told Reuters prevention is crucial to minimising damage and the loss of lives, but it is often neglected because the benefits are not immediately obvious to politicians and those in government.
“People like to use expressions such as rapid response, emergency recovery ... but climate disasters are already underway,” Jeong said.
“If you put money into prevention projects, you can do it at half the cost of recovery projects,” he said.
A 2020 study by the Korea Meteorological Administration found that property damage costs and casualties from extreme weather have tripled compared to the yearly average of the previous decade.
Here is a summary of the remarks ahead of US climate envoy John Kerry’s meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, today in Beijing – via AFP:
Kerry met Wang in Beijing on Tuesday, as the two countries revive stalled diplomacy on reducing planet-warming emissions.
Kerry was greeted by Wang at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the third day of a visit to China that ends on Wednesday.
The two shook hands and exchanged opening remarks before beginning a meeting.
“Cooperation on climate change is advancing under the overall climate of China and the United States, so we need the joint support of the people of China and the United States,” Wang told Kerry, who he described as an “old friend”.
“There is a need for a healthy, stable, and sustainable Sino-US relationship,” he added.
Climate talks between the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters came to a halt last year after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US House of Representatives, enraged Beijing by visiting self-ruled Taiwan, which China considers to be part of its territory.
Here are pictures showing the impacts of the extreme weather being felt in the northern hemisphere:
Kerry: We can begin to change the broader relationship through climate talks
Speaking in Beijing before a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, US climate envoy John Kerry has said that the two countries “can begin to change the broader relationship [between them] through climate talks”.
Among the things climate experts hope will emerge from the meeting and the relationship between China and the US going forward is progress made on tackling methane and coal production.
Methane is a greenhouse gas – a gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet – responsible for roughly 30% of global heating.
China has pledged to start reducing coal consumption, but not until 2026, and new coal power project approvals have accelerated since last year.
China continues to justify its use of coal as an economic security issue. Meanwhile, the US is the top oil and gas producer in the world and its fossil fuel exports have boomed,
Updated
As Reuters explains, China’s rapid growth and increasing emissions have led many – including the European Union – to argue that China should also be contributing aid, Reuters reports. Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said contributions from Beijing could boost UN climate funds.
Beijing has rejected these calls, and refers to its classification as a “developing country” under the 1992 deal. It has resisted suggestions that those classifications be revisited, accusing the West of attempting to skirt its historical responsibility for climate change.
It has, however, signalled a willingness to offer climate finance to developing countries through different instruments, like a South-South Climate Cooperation fund it launched in 2015. That fund, however, has only delivered 10% of the $3.1bn pledged, according to think tank E3G.
John Kerry, speaking in Beijing before a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, says, “Biden looks forward to being able to move forward and change the dynamics,” Reuters reports.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, the US and China began to discuss the issue of climate finance, which wealthier countries provide to poorer nations for the clean energy transition and climate adaptation, as an area of potential cooperation.
This arrangement, first agreed at UN climate talks in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is based on the idea that rich countries have a greater responsibility to tackle climate change because they contributed the bulk of climate-warming emissions to the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
Updated
More comments now ahead of that meeting between US climate envoy John Kerry and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, as the pair meet as part of climate talks between the two countries responsible for the highest carbon emissions – emissions that are driving the climate crisis currently causing record global temperatures, heatwaves and floods.
“President Biden is very committed to stability in the US-China relationship and also to achieve efforts together that can make significant difference to the world,” Kerry says.
He adds that, “Biden values his relationship with president Xi”.
Updated
China and Vietnam evacuate tens of thousands ahead of typhoon Talim
Meanwhile prolonged high temperatures in China are threatening power grids and crops and raising concerns about a repeat of last year’s drought, the most severe in 60 years.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated in southern China and Vietnam on Monday as typhoon Talim barrelled towards land, AFP reports.
The China Meteorological Administration said typhoon Talim made landfall on the coast of Guangdong province at around 10:20 pm (1420 GMT).
Powerful winds, storm surges and lashing rains were forecast to hammer the southern coastline from Guangdong to Hainan provinces on Monday night, it said.
The forecaster had issued an orange alert, the second-highest warning in a four-tier colour-coded system.
It said the storm was expected to lose speed by Tuesday morning and “weaken and dissipate over northern Vietnam” on Wednesday.
Authorities in Vietnam said they were preparing to evacuate about 30,000 people from the areas forecast to be hardest hit in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong provinces from Monday afternoon.
Talim “might be one of the biggest to hit the Gulf of Tonkin in recent years”, Vietnam’s top disaster response committee said in an online statement.
Wang Yi has called Kerry, “our old friend” ahead of their meeting in Beijing.
Updated
US climate envoy John Kerry is speaking before a meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
Kerry’s third visit to China as US climate envoy marks the formal resumption in top-level climate diplomacy between the two countries. The former Secretary of State is the third top US official to visit Beijing in the past month.
Kerry says, addressing Wang Yi, “Our hope is now that this could be the beginning of new cooperation to solve the differences between us.”
Updated
China leads the world in renewables – and coal production
Joe Biden’s administration hopes to prod China to act more rapidly to curb its emissions, particularly from coal as well as methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted during fossil fuel production and agricultural development. Kerry acknowledged that China is doing “an incredible job” of building out renewable energy such as wind and solar. “But on the other hand, we see new coal coming online, which undoes the benefit of that,” he said.
China, which leads the world in renewables as well as coal production, still retains broader unresolved grievances with the US, such as over trade and surveillance, but Xie said that the two countries would aim to “seek common ground while shelving our differences” during the climate talks.
“Kerry and Xie are both pragmatists and they will try to move the ball down the field, which is important given the backdrop of extraordinary heat on every continent,” said Rachel Kyte, dean emeritus of the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Kyte said there is hope the two superpowers could help rally other countries to phase out methane emissions, as well as make progress on the vexed topic of international climate finance.
“The relationship between the US and China is critical to this,” she said.
Questions, comments, powerful graphs? Send them to me on Twitter here.
This is my favourite climate crisis graph. It shows where we are now – and how much worse things stand to get if we don’t drastically curb emissions, especially from fossil fuels. In other words, this is just the beginning.
Fossil fuel companies earned record subsidies in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency, which found that oil subsidies rose by 85% compared to 2021.
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China and US alone responsible for 40% of global emissions
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has called for more rapid action to confront the climate crisis in a crucial visit to China that is taking place against a fraught backdrop, with both countries currently baking under record heatwaves and Kerry facing hostile opposition from Republicans back home.
Kerry’s meeting with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, for three days of formal talks in Beijing is the first substantive summit between the world’s two largest carbon emitters on the climate crisis since relations were frozen last August, when Nancy Pelosi, the then-House of Representatives speaker, visited Taiwan, a move condemned by China’s leadership.
The visit comes amid roiling heatwaves across the world, including in the US, where more than a third of the population is under heat warnings and where, in California’s Death Valley, a temperature close to the hottest ever recorded reliably in the world was reached on Sunday. China, meanwhile, has just had its national record temperature set in the western region of Xinjiang, where it reached 52.2C (125F).
This year is likely to be, globally, the hottest ever recorded and represents “real life unfolding before our eyes as a consequence of the choices we make or don’t make”, Kerry said of the cooperation between China and the US, which together are responsible for around 40% of the world’s planet-heating emissions. “The world and the climate crisis demand that we make progress rapidly and significantly,” said the envoy. “It is vital that we come together to take action.”
Second day of US-China climate talks begins
The extreme global temperatures underscore the urgency in talks that resume today between China and the United States on climate change.
US climate envoy John Kerry met Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing, urging joint action to cut methane emissions and coal-fired power.
“In the next three days, we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves,” Kerry said.
“It is toxic for both Chinese and for Americans and for people in every country on the planet.”
Rome braced for record 43C heat
Temperatures continued to reach extreme highs across many parts of the northern hemisphere on Monday, with the mercury in parts of Italy poised to hit 45C on Tuesday and wildfires raging in Greece and Spain signalling the latest fierce warning of the effects of the climate crisis.
In Italy, where temperatures later in the week could push close to the European record of 48.8C, set in the Sicilian town of Floridia in August 2021, Italians were warned to brace themselves for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time”.
The health ministry has sounded a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.
Temperatures are expected to hit as high as 43C in Rome on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007.
Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the extreme heat, floods and other climate disasters affecting the northern hemisphere.
My name is Helen Sullivan, and I’ll be bringing you the latest. You’ll find me on Twitter here.
Rome is likely to get as hot as 43C on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007. Asia, Europe and the United States are suffering under extreme heat on as global temperatures surpass alarming highs.
The heatwave is happening as the US and China hold climate talks, with US climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua urging joint action to cut methane emissions and coal-fired power, with Kerry signalling “big steps”.
“In the next three days, we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves,” Kerry said on Monday.
Here are the other key recent developments:
Temperatures continued to reach extreme highs across many parts of the northern hemisphere on Monday, with the mercury in parts of Italy poised to hit 45C on Tuesday and wildfires raging in Greece and Spain signalling the latest fierce warning of the effects of the climate crisis
Scorching temperatures persist across the US, especially in the south-west. California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, hit 128F, but fell short of the record 130F. Other parts of the state broke heat records, like Mount Shasta at 100F and Barstow at 116.
Houston, Texas, confirmed its first heat-related death. Victor Ramos, 67, was found in his home in south-west Houston, which did not have air conditioning.
The intense floods that tore through south-eastern Pennsylvania this week left five people dead and two children missing.
Wildfires rage on in Greece, where evacuation efforts are under way in coastal towns outside of the capital of Athens. This week will continue to be at a high risk of fires, the Greek meteorological service has warned.
Typhoon Talim has made landfall in the Guangdong province of southern China. Tourist destinations in the area are closing and evacuation efforts are under way.
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