California is bracing for an extreme heatwave later this week, with summer temperatures expected to peak at 45 degrees Celsius in parts of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
According to meteorologists, an anticyclone is expected to push temperatures well above seasonal norms, sometimes more than 10°C difference. The heat wave is expected to extend from Wednesday noon to Friday evening, the American weather service (NWS) warned.
The affluent Woodland Hills neighborhood, located about 10 miles inland 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 to provide shelter to people without access to air conditioning.
Neighboring state of Arizona will also be affected
Coastal areas, which have enjoyed a milder summer as usual, will now experience the same temperatures as those endured inland, according to climatologist Daniel Swain.
“Most areas very close to the coast escaped record temperatures this summer,” meaning that “while a majority of California’s land area experienced a record-breaking summer in terms of temperature, that was not the case for the majority of its population,” the coasts being the most populated areas, he writes on his blog.
Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is expected to see temperatures reach 47°C, slightly below the 50°C reached in July in this desert area. The neighboring state of Arizona will also be affected. The city of Phoenix reached 100° Fahrenheit (37.77°C) on Tuesday for the 100th day in a row.
Repeated heat waves are a marker of climate change caused by humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels, scientists say.
According to a recent report from 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.
- BFMTV.com
