Parts of the western United States and Canada suffered under scorching temperatures Monday, with heat warnings still in place from a sweltering weekend and authorities struggling to rein in explosive wildfires.
Extreme heat conditions have reached as far inland as the edge of the Rocky Mountains in recent days, part of a dramatic heat wave that experts attribute directly to climate change.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) warned dangerous temperatures will continue in the region for the early part of the week, forecasting highs of up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius) in southern California, and issued a heat advisory for communities outside Los Angeles until Monday evening.
The NWS said temperatures were beginning to dip, with breezes arriving in northern California and storms in Arizona and New Mexico on Monday, but warned of “another day of potentially record-breaking heat” in parts of the western US.
“Excessive heat warnings remain in effect from California to Utah since readings will still be well above normal for Monday,” it said, with particularly high overnight temperatures robbing many heat-struck regions of much-needed respite.
Canadian meteorologists predicted highs approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) — well above seasonal norms — would continue in parts of western Canada on Monday.
– Wildfires raging –
In California — where more than twice as many acres have burned this year compared to the same point in 2020’s record-breaking season — a large fire near Lake Tahoe expanded Monday, spurred by the heat, increased winds, low humidity and dry vegetation.
A combination of two blazes sparked by lightning last week, the Beckwourth Complex fire has rapidly grown to some 90,000 acres. Large areas of forest have burned, with reports of homes destroyed in multiple towns, and footage from the area showing burnt-out abandoned cars and buildings.
As the state enters what are traditionally its most dangerous months for wildfires, evacuation orders were also issued for the River Fire, which began Sunday just south of the Yosemite National Park.
In the neighboring state of Oregon, the even larger Bootleg Fire more than tripled in size since Friday, reaching more than 150,000 acres and threatening power supplies to California. Two firefighters were killed in an aviation accident in Arizona.
And in Canada, more than 50 new wildfires have erupted in the past two days.
Canadian transport minister Omar Alghabra on Sunday announced new emergency measures aimed at preventing further wildfires in the tinder-dry region, including steps to slow or limit trains, which can spark blazes.
Several roads and highways in the area have been closed as the government rated the wildfire risk in much of the province as “extreme.”
A dozen municipalities remained under evacuation orders.
The Canadian government has sent investigators to the town of Lytton, 150 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver, to see whether a passing cargo train might have caused a late June fire that destroyed 90 percent of the town.
– Climate change –
The hot weather follows an earlier heat wave that struck the same regions at the end of June.
A study by a group of leading climate scientists found that those conditions would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
The World Weather Attribution group said that global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, made the June heat wave at least 150 times more likely to happen.
The scorching conditions saw the all-time record daily temperature broken three days in a row in British Columbia.
Last month was the hottest June on record in North America, according to data released by the European Union’s climate monitoring service.
Human activity has driven global temperatures up, stoking increasingly fierce storms, extreme heat waves, droughts and wildfires.
The World Meteorological Organization and Britain’s Met Office said in May there was a 40 percent chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily surpassing 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures within the next five years.
The past six years, including 2020, have been the six warmest on record.
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