No place is safe, reveal scientists amid unprecedented heatwave in parts of US and Canada - WION

In a new revelation, climate scientists have said that no place is safe from the kind of extreme heat events that have hit the western US and Canada in recent days. 

Being deemed as a 'heat dome', it has caused temperatures to rise to almost 50C in Canada and has been linked to hundreds of deaths, melted power lines, buckled roads and wildfires. 

At least 300 sudden deaths have been reported in Canada, as the country recorded its highest ever temperature amid scorching conditions that extended to the US Pacific Northwest.

Sir David King, the former UK chief scientific adviser, was quoted by the Guardian saying, "Nowhere is safe … who would have predicted a temperature of 48/49C in British Columbia?”. He added, "The risks have been understood and known for so long and we have not acted, now we have a very narrow timeline for us to manage the problem".

At the US west coast, Seattle and Portland registered consecutive days of exceptional heat. 

Also read | As US & Canada experience heatwave, UN confirms record heat in Antarctica

The local authorities said that they were investigating about a dozen deaths in Washington and Oregon that could be because of the high temperatures. 

Michael E Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University and author of The New Climate War, was quoted by the Guardian saying, "We should take this very seriously … You warm up the planet, you’re going to see an increased incidence of heat extreme. Climate models are actually underestimating the impact that climate change is having on events like the unprecedented heatwave we are witnessing out west right now".

He further highlighted that climate was being destabilised in part by the global warming of the Arctic. He said that the existing climate models were failing to capture the scale of what was happening.

Meanwhile, as an unprecedented heatwave ripped across the United States and Canada, the UN recognised a new record high temperature for Antarctica at 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) which occurred last year.

"Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth's final frontiers," Petteri Taala, UN's World Meteorological Organization secretary-general said.

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No place is safe, reveal scientists amid unprecedented heatwave in parts of US and Canada - WION
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