The US has faced severe weather conditions in the past week, with air quality warnings issued across the midwest and north-east, affecting more than 100 million people.
Smoke from more than 450 Canadian wildfires spread across the US, resulting in poor air quality, with some states labelled as having “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” conditions.
New York’s state governor, Kathy Hochul, expanded the air quality advisory to include the entire state. Nearby Pennsylvania issued a code red for western parts of the state, indicating that vulnerable people with respiratory issues, young children or the elderly people should avoid prolonged exposure outside.
Meanwhile, southern states, including Texas, are experiencing a dangerous heatwave with nearly 60 million people under heat alerts. Extreme temperatures persisted in southern states and parts of Mexico with maximum temperatures reaching into the triple digits (fahrenheit) for a third week in a row. At the start of the week, scorching temperatures of 44.4C were recorded at El Granado in Huelva, Spain, marking the arrival of the first summer heatwave of the season in the region. In recent years, there has been a growing occurrence of heatwaves, reflecting the global trend of increasing temperatures.
Meanwhile, a record-breaking marine heatwave in the North Atlantic continues, pushing temperatures up to 5C higher than normal between 1971-2000 and raising fears among scientists about the potential impact on marine life. A marine heatwave is a prolonged period of unusually warm sea surface temperatures in a specific region. The phenomenon can have a significant impact on marine ecosystems and their inhabitant organisms, leading to changes in the distribution and abundance of marine species, as well as causing harm to fisheries and other marine industries. Marine heatwaves are often associated with climate patterns such as El Niño events.
Antarctic sea ice is at a record low for the end of June, with levels more than 2m sq km below the 1981-2010 average. While the extent of the sea is increasing during the southern hemisphere winter, the rate of increase is reduced in comparison to the 1981-2010 average as well. Reduced sea ice extent at the start of the year has resulted in a reduced positive feedback in the formation of sea ice.
