California is bracing for an extreme heatwave this weekend, with summer temperatures expected to peak at 45°C in parts of Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States. Meteorologists say a high pressure system is expected to push temperatures well above seasonal norms, sometimes by more than 10°C. The heatwave is expected to extend from Wednesday noon to Friday night, the National Weather Service (NWS) has warned. The upscale Woodland Hills neighborhood, located inland about 10 miles from Malibu on the Pacific coast, is expected to see the highest temperatures in Los Angeles County.
City Mayor Karen Bass announced the opening of several air-conditioned shelters for people without access to air conditioning to seek shelter in. Coastal areas, which have enjoyed a milder summer as usual, will now experience the same temperatures as those inland, according to climatologist Daniel Swain. “Most areas very close to the coast had escaped temperature records this summer”meaning that “while much of California’s land area experienced a record-breaking summer in terms of temperature, that was not the case for much of its population,” with the coasts being the most populated areas, he writes on his blog.
In Phoenix, 100 days over 100°F
Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is expected to see temperatures reach 47 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit), slightly below the 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) reached in July in the desert region. The neighboring state of Arizona will also be affected. The city of Phoenix reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.77 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday for the 100th day in a row.
Repeated heat waves are a marker of climate change caused by humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels, scientists say. According to a recent report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that analyzed data from 50 major U.S. cities, the average frequency of heat waves there has increased from two per year in the 1960s to six per year in the 2010s and 2020s.
